The Bells at Wammy's
by TruckerHat
Summary: How is it that Mello came to hate Near so much, especially when they started off such good friends? Mello was the smartest student at Wammy's House. Matt was a slacker who thought he was better than everybody else. Near was a new student who felt like he was all alone. Nonromantic except for some implied. There will, of course, be spoilers.
1. New Kid

**Author's Note: **I'd like to take the chance to welcome YOU and to let you know that some of the ideas in this story were inspired by a doujinshi called Angelic Reeds (unfortunately I don't know the original creator) which features the most adorable Mello I've ever seen and also the most unfortunately despicable Near. It's interesting, so go check it out if you want. That's about all I have to say for now. I will try to update on a weekly basis.

* * *

The bells could be heard loud and clear today. It wasn't a church, certainly not a wedding. These were the school bells at Wammy's House, and they seemed louder than usual. Somewhere in the building a child was screaming and crying; likely a result of discipline by one of the strict and cruel teachers. Everything was so loud.

And Mello was starting to get annoyed. Certainly he'd been on the wrong end of the teachers before, back when he'd been carefree and hadn't been trying nearly as hard as he could at his school work. He felt no sympathy, though. After all, punishment didn't take long the first time. After that, you either smartened up or you got used to it. Mello was in the habit of smartening up. After his first punishment he'd worked his grades up to a B and it had been all uphill from there. Why should he be responsible for anyone else's choices?

Now, at only fourteen years old, he was considered the top student in the orphanage, perhaps even the top student since the mysterious L. Usually when that proposition was pitched to Mello he laughed it off, saying nobody would ever be as good as L, but he had to hide a blush.

"Knock knock!" Someone called from outside his room.

With some frustration, Mello slammed the book he'd been trying to study from shut. Clearly he wasn't getting anything accomplished today. "You could just knock normally!"

The door opened in response. Mello regretted his words immediately when he saw it was one of his prettiest teachers, a petite 20-something woman in charge of his grade's language studying who only went as Ms. T. Unlike the rest of his drooling classmates he wasn't interested in her – she was _hardly _his type – but she was one of those people that he couldn't help feel bad about snapping at. As always, her personality betrayed her appearance. "The bell just went, Mello."

"I know, I heard it," Mello said, pretending to be puzzled, but only buying time while he scrambled for an excuse.

"What's your excuse today?"

"My excuse for what, ma'am?"

Ms. T. rolled her eyes at him openly. "For not only missing my class entirely, but now for being late for advanced forensics. Don't make Mr. C. regret allowing you into his upper-level restricted class."

"He won't regret it. Did you see my last report card? I have a 94 in that class. That's better than any of those oh-so-special upper level students. I'm catching up on my required reading for criminal psychology, anyway. I have a test tomorrow."

"A test that you have, no doubt, _not _started studying for yet. I'm surprised your classmates don't hate you yet."

Mello grinned up at her after blowing several strands of long blond hair out of his face. "They all love me, and they always will. Who doesn't love the smartest kid in the class?" Ms. T. had no response to this other than to raise her eyebrows. After staring him down for a few more seconds she found she had no more to say and hurried off, presumably because she was late to her own class.

"I like her. She's the least grumpy teacher we have," Mello said to nobody in particular. Forgetting that he'd slammed his book in a temper, he opened it back up to start reading about the motives of infamous serial killers of the 20th century.

Somewhere in the building, a child continued to cry.

"Shut the hell up," Mello whispered. In a childish manner, he scrambled underneath the covers on his bed, hoping this would block out the sound of the crying. Whoever this was, he was a real screamer, but it was a little more quiet and peaceful underneath the blankets. He delved once again into his book and managed to get about an hour in before the noises in the hallway were too much to bear. Younger children ran through the hall of the dormitories and eighteen year olds yelled at each other between rooms after coming back from the gym. _How does anybody study in this place except at the dead of night? _Mello thought to himself. _No wonder I have the highest marks, it's _because _I skip class to study_.

"Hey Mello, get out here!" someone yelled.

"Hey Mello, the upper grades are having a party, guess you're invited!" This was followed by a laugh.

"Mello, can I borrow your notes from yesterday's extra credit research lecture?"

"Mello, can you help me with my summative introductory chemistry lab?"

"Mello?"

"Mello!"

"MELLO!" Someone hollered louder than everybody else. Mello gave in. He sighed, pulled a warm black sweater over his head, and poked his head outside his dorm room. The guy who'd been yelling was a larger redhead of about seventeen from his forensics class. "Hey, Mello, missed you in class today!"

"Hey Crane, yeah-" he gestured with his psych text, trying to duck back into his room.

"You're so antisocial, Mells. Why don't you come out of your room for once and join the fun?"

"Because if I did people would call me Mells."

"Funny, Mells. But seriously, listen to me for a second. I wanted to tell you in class today, but of course you were busy with your head in a book, so I'll tell you now. Watari is holding an intensive four-week secret course starting Friday called Communication & Code for the top students at the school."

Mello's eyes widened. Now _this _was fun. "Really? _The _Watari?"

"Assistant to the great L and founder of the school himself."

"Why are you telling me if it's a secret then, you idiot?"

Crane grinned good-naturedly. "Everyone invited is allowed to ask one other student if they think they're up for it. I'm inviting you because you're really smart and if I get lost you can lend me some notes. That means you can invite someone too. Or you could if you ever spent time out of your room. It's kind of weird how you order your meals up to your room."

Mello shrugged. "I'm pretty busy, I guess. I'm taking more than a full course load…" he trailed off. As the noise in the hallway died down he began to hear the crying again.

"Who _is _that? Kid's been crying off the hook all day."

"Yeah, it's been driving me crazy. Doesn't he know that there are people trying to work? Shouldn't _he _be doing something?"

Crane continued to grin widely and shrugged. "Take the stick out of it, Mello."

"Funny. You go get drunk in your dorm or whatever you upperclassmen do in your spare time. I'm going to find out who the little monster is."

Crane saluted him. "See you later, chief."

Mello hurried away down the halls. He couldn't be certain that the crying was coming from within the dorm building, but surely nobody could cry _that _loudly. He was beginning to get into the more isolated corridors where the only foot traffic came from those living there. And whoever he'd just bumped into.

"Watch it," the boy snapped, though in the most bored tone possible for snapping. Mello stared up at the boy who was nearly a head taller than him. The boy was watching him back, and Mello saw with some horror that he was smoking. If one of the teachers caught him… no, this was none of his business. The boy looked him up and down without changing his facial expression. "Nice sweater."

"Nice goggles," Mello spat in reply.

The boy shrugged. "Fair enough. Where are you running off to so quickly, fairy princess?"

"Pardon?"

"You have the most beautiful blond hair." The strange boy and a few of his buddies who'd come around the corner sniggered.

"I'm going to find out who's been screeching all day."

"Sounds fun. We've got better things to do, or we'd totally join you. Later, princess."

Mello continued doggedly on his hunt. The screaming was almost deafening at this point, so he knew by the next intersection he'd find the culprit. Sure enough, he turned a corner and found a dead end in which a small boy with pale hair was curled up and bawling. Mello, demonstrating a great capacity for empathy and tact, kicked the boy.

"What have you been crying about all day? I got a headache because of it and I live halfway across the building!" He relaxed his facial expression when the tiny boy sniffled and immediately stopped crying. "Hey, sorry for yelling. Who are you, anyway? I don't think I've seen you before." Mello did his best to conjure up a winning smile, but the boy cringed so he stopped.

"I'm new. I just moved here a few days ago. My name is Nat- Near. They told me I'm called Near now. They never told me why that is." He rubbed the side of his head and winced.

"Well hello Near, they call me Mello. What are you crying about? Wait, that's a stupid question, I already know that. What're you in trouble for?"

Near sniffled a bit but did his best to hold back tears. "I didn't think I was doing anything that bad… but they said I was talking too much in class." He reached out and took the hand that Mello was offering him to help him up.

"That's all? Seems like… not something serious enough to make you cry all day." Mello did not add that he thought Near was probably overreacting. "What class?"

"Intro to Binary Decoding."

"Yikes. With Mr. R? He does tend to be reactionary."

"Yes. This is going to be a miserable semester for me, I can tell already. Binary is _not _my strong point."

"Is it anybody's?" Near shrugged. "I mean, they have computers to do that. Why would you even think about taking that class?"

"When I arrived they told me I had to fulfill a computer lab credit. I'm not good with computers – I prefer using my own mind – but what could I do? I thought binary sounded easy. I mean, it has two numbers!"

Mello laughed. "How old are you?"

"I'm thirteen."

"You've got a lot to learn about how things work around here. Like, for example, you can't cry all day like you've been doing because one of the upperclassmen will probably beat the snot out of you." Mello deliberately didn't mention that he'd come looking for a fight. The boy was so small that he could scarcely believe he was older than ten, and he didn't think he could raise a fist to the poor child.

"I can't help it. I don't like it here. I don't understand half of what's going on and my room is really quiet since I don't have a roommate and none of my classmates will talk to me and-"

"Alright, alright," Mello raised a hand to cut Near off. "You'll get used to it. They wouldn't have brought you in if they didn't think you were capable of handling the course work. Nobody's failed out of here for years. I guess they can't fail you out of an orphanage, but still…"

Near sniffed again, loudly. "I miss my parents."

"Hey, hey, don't worry about that. If you don't like your room you can stay with me. I requested to not have a roommate this year because I like to keep my space quiet for studying, but as long as you're not too noisy I don't think I'll mind having you around."

Near's face lit up. "Really? You're not joking?"

"Not at all. Come on, let's go talk to Roger and see how he feels. Also," Mello added, remembering something, "don't worry about your classmates not liking you so much. _I _like you. In fact, I'd like to invite you to take part in a special class that none of your classmates will have even heard of."

"What's that?"

"It's called Communication & Code. You'll like it. It's supposed to be for the best students at the school, but I'm sure you can handle it." Mello stood up straight and started walking back to his room, knowing Near would follow.

"Does that mean you think I'm smart?"

Mello laughed. "A kid after my own heart."

"I'm only a few months younger than you."

Mello punched Near lightly on the shoulder. "You and I, I think we're going to get along just fine."


	2. Hypothesis

"Maybe whoever delivered the message got the day wrong."

"Shut up, Near," Mello whispered. "I'm sure Watari will get here eventually. He's pretty old, you know. He just needs some extra time." The hoard of upperclassmen plus Mello and Near were waiting with varying patience for the instructor of their specialized Communication & Code to show up.

"I'm sure if _Watari _needed extra time he would have scheduled the class to start later. Or left earlier. He's a smart man, I hear." Near was attempting sarcasm. It didn't suit him.

"Look, there's a whole empty table behind us. I bet we're just a little early, that's all."

"Or the message didn't get to as many people as Watari expected."

"You've been in this school for a couple days now. Are you telling me you haven't noticed how things like this tend to spread like wildfire?"

Near scratched at a bit of dirt on the table in front of him. "I don't think Watari will be very pleased if people who aren't prepared for the class show up. Maybe I should leave," he added doubtfully.

"Don't be stupid, Near. You should stay. Besides, I don't want to be here by myself," he lied through his teeth to convince Near to stay.

A loud commotion was beginning in the hallway. Mello checked his watch to make sure they hadn't been sitting so long that it ran into another period. "I can't believe I'm missing lunch for this…" He checked his watch again. It was still only ten minutes past noon. _So what's all that noise_? His question was answered when a gaggle of other underclassmen poured through the doorway and sat at the empty table behind Mello and Near's, chattering and laughing loudly the entire time. Most of them were boys, and most of them Mello recognized. Particularly…

"Hey, princess, I wasn't expecting to see you here." His obnoxious entourage giggled and egged him on.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here, either… um… with all these underclassmen. Can't find someone your own age to play with?" More annoying laughter.

"My name's Matt," the boy said, not missing where Mello had stumbled, "and I don't know what you're talking about. Not all fourteen-year-olds are as short as you."

Mello felt that if he heard one more chuckle from Matt's posse he would scream. "You're my age? That's weird. I don't remember ever seeing you in my other classes."

As Mello could have predicted, there was more laughter. How Matt surrounded himself with that number of people who were just the right level of annoying was beyond him. "Well, no," Matt said, laughing a little himself, "you wouldn't see me in your _advanced _classes, now, would you, Mello?"

"You know who I am?"

"Of course. Doesn't everyone know you, princess? Aren't you the smartest, most popular boy in school?" Matt managed to sound as if he was not the slightest bit interested in Mello's life whatsoever. "It doesn't matter, I can tell you're about to shrug humbly and say you wouldn't know."

"Was not." Mello was growing increasingly irritated at the boy with the shaggy brown hair and stupid goggles, and wished Near would say something to deter or distract him.

"Whatever. The two of us should get to know each other. Roger tells me I'm supposed to be second-in-line to succeed L when he dies. I bet that's second to you."

"You? Second in line to succeed L? Really?" Mello let out a snicker of his own, expecting Matt's group of cronies to join him, but they didn't. They only stared at Matt, admiring him.

"Weird, isn't it? I suppose you expect all the successors would be your honours classmates. Y'know, princess, there's more to life than grades and the sooner you learn that the happier you'll be. There are people in your grade who you've never seen before, me for example, because you spend all your time locked up in your room with your head in a book. I'm sure you're decades ahead of me in terms of grades and smarts both so there's no reason for you to worry about anybody getting ahead of you in the race to succeed L (not as if he'll die anytime soon). Relax, take life as it comes. Be more like… me."

"Are you saying you want to hang out with me?" Mello tried to sound as brazen and confident as the boy sitting behind him, but his quivering voice betrayed his curiosity about Matt.

"I don't think so, Mello." The laughter Mello hated so much started up again.

"Mello?"

Matt raised his eyebrows and frowned. "Princess."

"Students!" A rough voice called from the front of the room. Everybody who'd been talking previously turned around and faced Watari, who had come into the room at last. "As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm late. My apologies. I'm currently involved with an extremely important case. Some of you might have heard of the Kira case. It's time consuming and has to take priority over everything, even training the next set of people who will be taking on criminals like Kira."

"What's the Kira case?" Near asked Mello.

"A while ago criminals started dying en masse and the current conclusion by investigators is that there is a serial killer who can somehow kill using a name and a face. I don't know if there are any suspects. Information like that hasn't been released to the public and isn't easily obtainable."

Near rubbed the side of his head. "That sounds fascinating."

"Doesn't it? Whoever this Kira is, he's bound to be smart. I'd love to figure out what he's got going on that makes him do what he's doing. Or even how he's doing it."

"You two at the front, quiet!" Watari said, looking pointedly at Near and Mello. "I see you two are the only two who didn't retrieve a textbook from the front. Why?"

"We weren't sure we were supposed to take one yet, sir," Mello said.

"Have you never attended a class before, young man?"

Near piped up. "We're not the only ones. Nobody from the table behind us has one either."

Watari looked down sternly at Near over his glasses. Near swallowed and looked to Mello for help, but then Watari was smiling. "I suppose I'll have to let it go this time. What's your name?"

"I'm Near."

"I've never seen you around here, Near."

"I've never seen you either." Somebody snorted from the table behind them. Mello guessed it was Matt.

"A fair point. However, your friend Mello and the rest of the class haven't seen me around either, and I know who they are. You must be new. And at such a young age, being invited to take an advanced class like this after not being here for very long… I certainly hope Mello feels he's made the right choice." On that note, Watari turned to the board and started writing out an overview of the class on the chalkboard. Mello was aghast. Watari was so different from what he'd thought. He hadn't known what to expect, but if he'd been asked, he would have guessed that Watari would be a sweet old gentleman, the type to give As to everyone even if they didn't earn it. This Watari was not at all the man he'd expected, and he wasn't sure he was too happy about it.

"Now, students. Since this course only runs for half of the summer semester, we will be having midterm tests at the two-week mark at the end of July. They will not be made shorter than your other exams to compensate. You are expected to be capable of keeping up with this class as well as maintaining your regular course work. If anybody in this class who thinks they're incapable of doing so, I would like that person to leave now."

Mello couldn't resist turning to look back at Matt, but he was simply staring straight ahead so it didn't amount to anything.

"Additionally, you will be completing a project to be assessed just before the final exam in groups of three. Any questions?"

Matt watched dismally as his friends quickly grouped up, leaving him to be the one person without a group. It always worked out that way, didn't it? The rest of his friends could divide up perfectly into whatever size groups were necessary, but nobody wanted to work with the guy still struggling to get some introductory credits. What he realized then was far, far worse. The two students in front of him, princess and that new kid who he really had no idea about, were looking around the room for a third group member. Matt shrunk down in his seat to avoid them spotting him alone.

Watari, of course, spoiled all that. "Matt! Do you have a group yet?"

"No, sir…" he sighed. Elementary school all over again. Eyes from all over the classroom sought him to stare and laugh internally at the awkward student who didn't appear to have any friends.

"Excellent. You can join Mello and Near's group. I hope you will all become acquainted soon. For the time being, I'm going to start a lecture on one of the most basic types of code used in our lines of work…"

Mello furiously took down every word, wearing down his pencil, trying to ignore Matt staring at the back of his head. Near thoughtfully wrote down important points, underlining things he wanted to remember. The staring went on. "Hey, princess," Matt hissed.

Mello ignored him. This class was way too important to him. He wanted to prove to Watari that he could succeed in an advanced class at his age and more importantly, that he was without a doubt the next L.

After class, Matt caught up with him in the hallway. "Princess, I'm talking to you!"

"Leave me alone. I don't want to be late for class. Shouldn't you get going, too?"

"True, I might miss the joys of remedial forensics. I really just need to talk to you. And Near, preferably, but he seems to have disappeared."

"At least he'll save me a seat. What's the second-in-line successor to L doing in a remedial forensics class?"

Matt grinned and shrugged. To Mello's shock, he also pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "Like I said, little guy, life isn't all about grades. Stop changing the subject."

"Are you sure you want to talk to me? You haven't got your laugh track with you."

"That's better, now they won't see me talking to you. You think you're hot stuff because you're the smartest kid in school, really, but I'm the one with all the charisma."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mello muttered, walking as quickly as he could down the hall in the hope that he would reach his language class without listening to Matt's cryptic conversation much longer.

"I think this project is about more than just code," Matt said.

"Oh?" Mello asked, barely interested.

"Yes. Why would the famed Watari leave the _Kira _case for a month to teach a group of genius brats about code? Surely another teacher could have taken that on."

"Okay…" Mello said, processing all this, "so what's your theory?"

"Isn't it obvious? Watari's here to pick the next L."

Now Mello was interested. "Do you seriously think so? Wouldn't L pick his own successor?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps he trusts the task to the closest person to him. Maybe Watari's going to bring him back a report. Who knows? But logically, they've brought together the smartest people in the school to a class taught by someone incredibly close to L in such a short period of time. I could be wrong. But I think there's a distinct possibility."

"Okay, why are you telling me this?"

"I dunno, Princess. Maybe I like you. But I thought about something. We're working in groups. Maybe if me and you work together, between your intelligence and my _superb _interrogation skills we can convince Watari that the next L should be a team. I'm sure that marshmallow-headed kid has something to contribute too."

"Marshmallow-headed? Really? His name's Near."

"Yeah, yeah, cool. So what do you think?"

Mello shrugged. "I really do have to get to class. But I think you should meet me at my dorm room – 207 – after classes."

"Ooh," Matt said in a low voice, raising his eyebrows.

Mello blushed and fiddled with the rosary adorning his neck compulsively. "Near's going to be there as well. He lives there now."

"That's not anywhere near as fun, princess."

"Uh, yeah. Well, um, I guess I'll – well, I'll see you later then."

"Later."

Mello filled Near in under his breath during the Germanic language class they had together. Near looked curious. "Are you taking that guy seriously?"

"Yeah. I know he's acts like a bit of a dope but I think deep down inside he knows what he's talking about. But what I'm really wondering is whether L would actually assign a team to take on his identity. There's no real reason to think so, other than we're working in groups on a project instead of individually."

"I don't know," Near sighed, "that's a lot of assumptions."

"It makes sense, I think. And even if Matt happens to be wrong, we should do the best we can anyway. Of course we want to get good grades."

"Mello? If you're going to talk throughout my entire class at least do it in German."

Mello looked up to see Ms. T with her hands on her hips, frowning at him. It sounded like she was joking but he could never be sure. "I was paying attention, Ms. T."

"What was I just talking about?"

"I… um…"

"Thought so. What I was _saying _was that next week we're going to have an oral test – shut up, you bunch of giggling buffoons – so I need everyone to pay close attention during the next week because most of the test will be on this material. You'd better start listening up."

Near smiled and wrote this down. Mello glanced at Near's workbook out of the corner of his eye. The previous day they'd been doing exercises in their books, and Mello noticed that every single one of Near's responses had been correct, but the boy rarely volunteered an answer during class. Mello would have to keep an eye on this quiet genius.


	3. Bully

Mello and Near sat quietly in their dorm room, thinking over their secret class. Mello was sitting on his bed with his shoes still on, fiddling with a string on his blanket. Near sat on the floor with his back against the wall and was hunching just the tiniest bit. Finally, Near spoke. "So, what did you think of the class?"

"Which one?"

"You know which one."

Mello smiled down at Near. "Yeah, I know which one you're talking about, but what about the fact that you're apparently a genius at German but you don't want anybody to know?"

"It's not that I don't want anyone to know. I don't like talking in class. At my old school everyone was really mean to me when I got all the answers right. They called me names and told me I was weird. Here, I think I'll keep my mouth shut and let other people answer for a change."

Mello stared back up at the ceiling. He couldn't imagine knowing he was smarter than everyone else and not being able to say anything about it. "I'm sure you're a thousand times better of a person than all the people at your old school, Near. Besides, that sort of thing is encouraged here. I'm right all the time and everybody loves me."

The room fell silent again, almost awkwardly this time. Near didn't say anything in reply, instead he sat and scratched at the side of his head.

Matt took the opportunity to slam open the room of the dorm and walk in. To his credit, he took off his boots, but he kicked them at the wall so he didn't earn a lot of brownie points from Mello and Near. Instead of saying hello, he hopped up on Mello's bed, shoved his legs out of the way, and stretched out to take up as much room as possible for a fourteen-year-old boy. "So I was thinking, what's up with all the weird nicknames? I mean, you've got Near, and Princess-"

"Mello."

"-yeah, and what about that guy _Crane_, and then how come I'm just called Matt? I can't work out whether that means I'm special or the headmaster hates me."

Mello pulled his knees up to his chest to avoid contact with Matt's splayed body. "Probably means your real name is messed up enough."

"Watch it."

"Why is he here?" Near asked pointedly.

"Hey!" Matt said, sitting up and looking at Near with some annoyance.

"He's here because he wants to talk to us about his crackpot theory, and we need to work on our assignment. Then I expect he'll leave to go hang out with his much cooler friends. Hey, you can't light that in here! You'll set the whole building on fire!"

"Whoops, too late." Matt had lit up a cigarette and was now taking a long drag on it. "Sorry, it calms my nerves."

Mello's irritation built slowly but steadily. "We're just doing some homework, there's nothing to be nervous about."

Matt eyed Mello, who crouched even smaller. "Are you sure?" A soft smile spread across his face, unlike any expression Mello had seen him make so far. "Well, whatever. Why's that kid scratching his head so much?"

"_Near_," Mello said, "is scratching his head so much because he got beaten by one of his teachers on his first day and that included having his hair pulled on and some of it pulled out."

"I'd pull that hair too if I had the chance. It looks nice and soft. Hey Near, can I touch it?"

Near opened his mouth to reply shyly, but Mello spoke before he could get a word out. "OKAY! Why don't we get to work? If you all have your assignment outlines, I thought we could take a look at them and divide up the work."

"Okay, okay, no need to be so uptight." Matt pulled out his crumpled outline while Mello and Near found their binders. "This assignment is crazy. Listen to this: 'you have been tracking a man you suspect is a serial killer and his partner in crime for months. All the clues point to him, but suddenly his attitude changes and it is found that someone else has begun committing the same crimes. However, you can say with reasonable (90-100%) certainty that the original suspect is still involved. More detailed information is included within the following reports and you may do additional research as needed.' What the hell? What happened to Communication and Code?"

Mello rolled his eyes and set his outline on his bedside table. "Sounds to me like a transparent attempt for the police to get us to do their work for them. A room full of geniuses is guaranteed to find a good solution to the problem."

"But," Near said, looking up from a toy car he'd been rolling around himself, "Watari doesn't work for the police. L is the world's greatest detective. I think he can solve mysteries by himself." His part said, he continued to play with his car, humming quietly to himself.

"Well," Matt said, his voice grim, "maybe this is too hard for one person to solve by himself. Maybe L needs us."

"Can we do our work? We're obviously not going to get anything done as a team, so I'll make it easy." Mello scanned the assignment sheet to look for an easy way to divide it up. "I'll figure out how to prove the suspect is guilty, Near, you can figure out how to prove the second suspect is helping him, and Matt, why don't you do research on how to catch the third criminal? There, now we can all work by ourselves. If you don't mind, I'm going to get started." By the time he finished his face was hot.

"Um, Mello…"

"What do you _want_, Near?"

"I was hoping I could do the part where I figure out how to prove the suspect is guilty. I have a really good idea."

Mello swung his face down to glare at Near, who was looking up at him with a pleading expression. Cold green met innocent gray until Mello caved. "Fine, do whatever you want, I'm going to work now."

"Why don't we go for a walk?"

"_What_?" Mello and Near said in a moment of surprising simultaneity. Matt's suggestion came completely out of left field.

Matt coughed and threw his paper aside. "You two obviously have some issues you need to work through, and I as the normal kid am the perfect choice to help you work through them. Not really though. In all seriousness, I'm going for a walk because I need to clear my head and if either or both of you want to join me, feel free." He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the door open. Mello and Near looked at each other, shrugged, and followed him.

The grounds at Wammy's weren't much to brag about, but there were a few secluded areas which were sometimes quite beautiful. In one spot, if one felt like climbing down the steep incline, a pond could be found at the base of several hills and a small waterfall. Mello didn't often make the trip down there, as he was easily bored and wanted to get back to his books, but Matt went often and found it peaceful. "Nice, isn't it?" he asked, pulling off his boots and dipping his feet in the water.

"It's wonderful," Near said.

At the same time, Mello said, "I've never understood what was so great about ponds and waterfalls. They're everywhere."

"I think you'll find, once you've spent enough time here, that there's something very special about the place. Near, you could sunbathe and get some colour on you. Princess, you could bring your books down here and study without having to put up with all the noise in the dorms. And on hot days like this," within seconds Matt had stripped down to his boxers, "you can go swimming." Without waiting for a reply from either of them, he leaped into the pond.

Near and Mello looked at each other again, not knowing what to do. Then Near smiled. "I want to swim." He too removed his oversized shirt and pants and joined Matt in the pool.

Mello declined the offer and sat back against one of the steeper hills. The grass tickled his cheeks and he listened to the sound of Near and Matt splashing around in the water. Days like this were rare, he reflected, when you had a few good friends who wanted to spend time with you but still let you do what you really wanted to, which in Mello's case was to lie against the grass and doze off.

He woke up to Matt picking him up with ease and tossing him into the water. Once he'd spluttered to the surface, he was enraged. "Matt, what the hell? My sweater is soaked!"

"And it might as well be! It's the middle of July, the least you could do is put on a t-shirt!"

Begrudgingly Mello joined the pair splashing in the water. He would never admit it later, but he actually had a lot of fun with them, even though when the sun started to go down he had to wring his sweater out the entire way back to the cafeteria. "I thought you would be annoying, Matt, but you're alright."

"A compliment at its finest." Matt lit up another in what seemed to be an endless string of cigarettes. "You don't need to play tsundere with me, Mello, I think you're amazing." Mello was almost certain Matt only said things like that to make him blush. "It's nice to see the two of you coming out of your shells, too. I have to admit, Near, when I first met you I thought you were going to be a stick in the mud but…"

Mello stopped paying attention to Matt's voice as they reached the cafeteria. He expected the boy to go join his entourage of giggling goons, but instead after he'd picked up some supper he joined Mello at his table. "That's an awful lot of dessert. How do you stay so skinny?"

Mello offered him a tiny smile. "I don't know. I just like chocolate and don't worry about any of that other stuff."

"Hunting a life full of pleasure, are we?" Matt asked. Mello didn't point out that his plate included two cheeseburgers and a pile of fries. "Where's your little buddy?"

"I think he was getting something to drink…" Mello looked around the cafeteria, watching out for the head of white hair that would indicate Near. "Oh, see, he's on his way."

Near held a tray which endearingly held a small salad, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a large glass of milk. Mello waved so he could see where they were sitting, but when Near started walking over to them, he fell. "Hey, what-" Mello said and stood up. "Oh look, Matt, one of your charming friends just tripped Near. Glad to see you spend your time with a solid bunch of people."

Matt swivelled in his seat. "Oh, it's him. Don't worry, that guy's a lot of bark and no bite. I'm sure he'll leave Near alone now that he's got his laugh – or not." As Matt had been speaking the boy who tripped Near had dragged him up by the arm and was now holding him while talking. Mello couldn't make out the words from the distance he was at. He would have, however, put money on them not being nice.

"Are you going to do something, Matt?"

"I… I don't know."

"That's cool." Mello stood up and marched over to where Near was being mercilessly taunted.

"Aren't you going to fight back? Or do you think you're _above _that? Do you want a hug to make you feel all better? Come on, let's kiss and make up." The boy embraced Near, caressing his back in a way that clearly made him uncomfortable – and in case the boy wasn't clear, his struggling gave it away. "Come on, don't be like that. Wouldn't you like to make some friends? Oh, it's you, what do you want?" he finally took notice of Mello.

"I want you to stop harassing my friend," Mello said in a calm voice that almost hid the anger that was making him shake.

"You know, princess, I'm only helping the guy out. He needs to make a few friends, get out of his shell… that's what your new pal Matt said."

"Matt, surprisingly, has methods that are a bit different than yours. Also, you don't get to call me that. Put him down."

"I don't think so, honey. Near wants to eat with us, don't you, Near?"

Mello was astonished that the boy knew Near's name, but he didn't take time to show his surprise. Instead, he jumped at the boy, not thinking about how much bigger he was, not thinking about how the boy had plenty of friends sitting around him, only thinking about getting Near away from him. His fist flew into the boy's face with a satisfying noise and a foot made contact with someone else's knee. Soon, though, he couldn't keep it up any longer and he was pulled off by someone much stronger than himself.

It was Matt.

"Let go of me, Matt," Mello demanded.

"That's not a good idea. You're outnumbered, and you were doing a great job might I add, but I know these guys and they could have taken you. They're not worth you getting your pretty faces messed up." Matt had Near safely under his other arm. "The rest of you," he said, raising his voice, "these two are my friends. If you keep bothering them, you won't be anymore. And honestly when the upper years start getting annoyed with you for acting like a bunch of smartasses when you're actually as dumb as a bunch of bricks, I don't think I'll feel like telling them to leave you alone. Mello, Near, let's go."

Mello half expected someone from the group to follow them, but it didn't happen. During the rest of their meal he occasionally saw one of them staring at him, but he took Matt's advice that they weren't worth it. And in the end, somewhere between when Near and Matt were teasing him about the enormous slice of chocolate cake on his tray and when the three of them fell asleep over their homework in Mello's dorm room, he forgot all about it.


	4. Competition

"Are you ready for the big midterm in Communication & Code?" Mello asked his friends as they headed toward their lunch period class.

"Sure, you know me, Mello, I do nothing but study. I know you're far too busy having fun with your friends, but me, I'm all about the books." Matt stretched and yawned.

"Okay. Near, are you ready?"

"I think so. I'm worried it's going to be hard. We've learned so much in the past two weeks and any of it could be on the test or maybe even all of it. I want to do well in that class and prove to Watari that I'm not just some kid you dragged along to be nice but what if I do badly, do you think I'll be kicked out of the class? Because he did say at the beginning that he wanted people to leave if they couldn't handle the work and I don't know if I can and-"

Matt actually grabbed Near and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Ssssh. You can try that with others, but not with us. We know you're secretly one of the smartest kids at this school. You're just going to stress the rest of us out." He lowered his hand and Near smiled up at him.

"I guess you're right. I want to impress Watari, though. I'd like to have a shot at being the next L." This elicited a scowl from Mello.

They walked into class to find that instead of the usual grouped tables there were desks spread out widely around the room, as expected. "Well, here goes nothing." The group exchanged thumbs-up all around and proceeded to find three desks that were relatively close to each other. The room slowly filled, and Matt's idiot friend that had bullied Near one day in the lunch room found a seat close to Mello so he could glare at him the entire exam.

"Welcome, students, to your midterm." Everyone looked up with some surprise, not having noticed Watari was inside the classroom the whole time. "I'm glad to see none of you turned over your tests thinking that I wasn't here, because then I would have to remove you from the class. Incidentally, you should remember that in any future classes you might take with me. Your exam will run into next period, perhaps even the period after, but I've sent notes to all your third-period teachers excusing you for now. I expect you will remain silent during the course of the test. The exam is about 20 pages long," Mello started sweating at this, "but since you are all diligent students I don't expect that to be a problem. Now, you may begin."

Mello flipped over his test and was relieved to see it didn't look that tough. The first ten pages were multiple choice questions and the remainder were short answers and scenarios. _You're going to be fine, Mello. Remember not to rush and you'll do just fine. _He put his pencil to paper immediately and began filling out the answers, all of which he recognized.

Mello was the first to finish the exam, but he waited down the hallway for Near and eventually Matt to appear out of the classroom as well, finished second and third respectively. "So, how did you two losers do?"

"It was hard," Near whined.

"Shut up, you silly twit," Matt suggested, "I'm sure you were best in the class. Or second best, at least," he added, seeing the dangerous look on Mello's face. "Anyway, I guess it's early enough that we really have no excuse to skip fourth period. I'm off to Latin, you two have a good day. Dinner date tonight?"

"As always. I'm off to forensics. Near, I'll pick you up at your interview techniques class after and we'll head down to meet Matt?"

"Sounds good. You know, Watari said that he might have grades up by tonight. Do you think that's possible?"

Mello shrugged. "Who knows, maybe he has an entire police force sitting around waiting to mark his papers. It would be nice to see my A+ as soon as possible either way. Anyway, see ya!" He happily walked down the hall to his forensics class, sitting right next to Crane, who was usually his lab partner.

"Hey, Crane, how did you do on the test?"

Crane scowled and pretending to be adjusting a microscope. "Not super well, as I'm sure you could guess. That was a hard test! What is that man trying to prove?"

"That one of us is the next L."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just something a friend said to me. I didn't think it was that bad."

"Of course you didn't. You wouldn't, would you, you perfect little princess?"

Mello began gathering up his books, sensing Crane was not going to be an entertaining table mate that day. "I'll talk to you tomorrow when you're in a better mood, I guess. And could you not call me that? I don't know where everyone got the idea that I was cool with that nickname."

"Why's that Matt kid so special that he gets to call you it all the time?"

"That Matt kid is 'so special' because when he does it, it's not because he's trying to be an asshole. I'll talk to you later." He picked up his bag, noticed he didn't have any other friends in the class, so he took the nearest empty seat which was next to a cute blonde girl who, in retrospect, looked a lot like himself. Oddly enough, when she looked up to see who was sitting next to her, she blushed, squeaked, and turned back to her notes as if nothing had happened. Today was certainly shaping up to be a strange day for Mello, and it was only about to get stranger.

Mello picked at a piece of chocolate cream pie with his fork. "Have either of you ever been… squeaked at by a girl?"

"Have I ever," Matt said with a self-satisfied smile.

"No, seriously. Long story short I was having an argument with a classmate I usually sit with during forensics. I got up at sat next to this girl and she, uh, turned red and made this squealing sound."

Near started laughing obnoxiously.

Matt ruffled Mello's hair as he had an annoying tendency to do. "You're only fourteen, I guess you wouldn't know yet."

"Hey, you're fourteen too."

"True, but I've spent considerably less time locked up in my bedroom, lying on a bed. Or at least when I do that it's not with a book. I hate to be the one to have to give you the talk, princess, but that girl _likes _ you."

"Like, _likes _me, likes me?" Mello said with a squeak of his own.

"Come on, Mello, you're not in second grade. She has a crush on you. She thinks you're hot. She wants to bear your beautiful children." The volume of Matt's voice was increasing

"_Matt_!" Mello said, wishing he could do something to make the staring eyes at other tables turn away. "She's way older than me."

"I doubt she's that much older. A couple of years at the most. That shouldn't be a problem either way, some ladies like their men younger. The point is, are you interested in her?"

Mello wanted to be anywhere other than where he was right now. The other staring students refused to avert their eyes, Near would not stop alternatively giggling and drinking chocolate milk. "I don't know her at all. I don't even know her name."

"That's not the point. Do you want her to bear your beautiful children?"

"I hadn't thought about it, Matt, to be honest… but I don't think so."

"Why not? Shy girls are cute, aren't they? Well, all girls are cute. But why don't you like her?"

"It's just that I don't know her. And besides… I don't really think she's my type."

Matt leaned forward in his seat so that he was halfway across the table. "Really? I've heard you say that about a couple of other girls too. So here's my question: who is your type?"

A sensation of extraordinary prickling heat spread up Mello's neck to his face, and he found he couldn't make eye contact with Matt. Instead, he fiddled with his rosary and asked, "I dunno, what about you, Matt, who's your type, then?"

"That's easy. Just about everyone! Although I did always have a thing for cute skinny blondes."

Mello's discomfort was growing quickly. "You'd probably like that girl in my forensics class. Okay… how about you, Near?"

"I just like people who are nice and fun to talk to," he said without hesitation. "It's your turn now though."

"Same as Near's."

Matt rolled his eyes and stole a forkful of Mello's dessert. "I can't believe you're not going to tell us. What's there to be embarrassed about?"

"I don't know, I don't feel comfortable talking about that sort of thing."

"Nobody does, that's why it's fun. Come on, give us one juicy little tidbit."

"No thanks. Do you guys want to go check if grades from our C&C midterm are up?"

Matt and Near shared an exasperated glance. "Mello," Matt said pointedly, "are you gay?"

"_WHAT_?" Mello nearly ripped the rosary clean off his neck.

"Because if you are you can tell us. Hell, I'm a little gay myself. I'm not sure what you're trying to hide, but we're not going to make fun of you. Right, Near?"

Near was playing with a toy airplane he'd had in his pocket and wasn't paying attention. "Um, right."

"See?"

"Can we please go check our marks?"

"Fine." Matt stood up in a way Mello thought was disproportionately violent.

They were all in Mello's room crowded around a computer. Matt checked his grade first. "Wow, I got a 42. That's sure to pull up my average by a few marks."

"Do you even try, Matt?" Mello scolded.

"We've been over this. Not at all. But let's not waste time on my failures. What's your mark? I'm sure we're all going to be proud."

Mello logged on to his student account. "Let's see… 93! That's better than I expected!"

"Shut it, princess. We all know you're not that modest. What about you, Near?"

Near stuck a thumb in his mouth and shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not sure I want everyone to know my mark. What if it's bad?"

"I just told you 42 was a really good mark for me, I don't think it's a big deal. Besides, if your mark blows then Mello and I can be your attractive tutors that all the girls want to get with. If you want to be competitive to be L, we can help you!"

"Uh, Matt…" Mello put a hand on his shoulder, "remember who else here wants to be L…"

"I know, but he's our _friend_. I'd do the same for you if I weren't such a complete screw-up myself. Now, Near, show us your mark. You _know _there are at least a handful of people at Wammy's who can hack into the computer system and find out if you won't show us."

"Oh, alright," Near grumbled. His stubby little fingers danced across the keyboard until a number that Mello couldn't believe popped up on the screen.

97.

"Way to go, Near!" Matt said excitedly, exchanging a high-five with his blushing friend. "Now don't you go pulling the modest act in the future either, we'll know it's all a ruse. But seriously, good job, that's a really good mark in a really tough class. And you've only been here for a few weeks, so that's doubly impressive. Obviously this weekend we're going to have to celebrate because you're just that awesome. Please tell me you won't report any underage drinking because that's the only real reason I would celebrate something like that." He even went as far as to give Near a big hug.

"I'm glad you're so happy, Matt, but I don't think Mello would like that."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because he just left the room."

"_What_?" Matt said, looking around. He hadn't even heard the door open or close. "That's weird. Where do you think he went? Does he have some sort of problem?"

"Yeah. I think you know what it is, too, but I get that you're not so good at addressing problems. Don't argue, we've seen it already. I think I know where he's going. We'll be back in a bit, okay?"

"Don't wait up, I'm going back to my room. See ya."

Near headed out to the serene lake Matt had brought them to a short while ago. Surely enough, he found Mello sitting at the edge of the pond with his sweater sleeves pulled right over his hands to cover him from the evening chill. "Hey, um, Mello?"

"What do you want? You've got what everyone wanted. To be better than me."

"Don't be like that. It's beneath you." Near said this as casually as if he was explaining how to make a sandwich. "Like Matt likes to say, grades aren't everything. I know you won't listen to that, though, so keep in mind this is one class. You're way better than me at German."

"Bullshit," Mello said, though he looked gratified. "You've never missed a question in that class. We're tied at best."

"I'm doing average in Interview Techniques. My teacher says I'm too soft and that I don't communicate effectively. I'm sure your grades in that class were above and beyond."

"Well, my teacher did say I was a little too violent during the practical exam, but I was the best in the class."

"Not to mention I don't even know what a logarithm is and exams are looming. The point is, maybe I'm just good at memorizing codes. That doesn't necessarily overshadow other more practical skills."

"I know that," Mello said, kicking a chunk of dirt into the pond, "but I wanted to prove myself to Watari. I wanted him to know how dedicated I am to my future."

"I'd say a 93 shows dedication. My grade could have been a fluke. Don't give up at the first obstacle you face. Now come back to the dorm, it's getting late and it's the weekend."

Matt was kicking a soccer ball around the dormitory halls with a friend like the annoying adolescent he was when Mello and Near walked cheerfully into the building, chattering like the oldest of friends.

"I don't get it," said Matt's soccer buddy, "weren't you just saying Mello wouldn't be speaking to Near for at least another week?"

Matt shook his head. Mello and Near didn't even acknowledge him when he walked past. "That's what I thought. You know how that princess is about his grades. You know what, I don't think I'll understand those two."


	5. Failure

The Communication and Code classroom was filling up quickly, but Matt never appeared. Even his previous group of friends showed up and noticed this. "Hey, Mello, what's going on with Matt? He hasn't shown up to any of his classes today."

"That's not good. Does he usually skip? I've never known him to."

"Neither have we. Especially since he started panting after the two of you. He's been up and eager to get to class every day."

Mello ignored the attempted slight and turned to Near. "That _is _really weird. I don't think he's missed a day of C&C yet, and it's bound to be his hardest class. Do you think he could be sick?"

"I suppose that's a possibility. We should go visit him after classes are over and make sure he's alright." At the end of the sentence, Near gave a violent tug on a lock of his hair.

"Ouch, Near, what's that about?"

"It itches where it's growing in. And it hurts at the base where it was pulled. I can't do much other than this."

"Okay, I don't see how pulling on it solves your problem, but… anyway, do you know what Matt's dorm room is?"

"No idea."

Luckily, the classmate Mello had been talking to had forgotten to stop listening to their conversation, and filled them in on Matt's living quarters. "You'd better watch out though," he warned, "if you walk in front of his television screen while he's playing a game you might not leave the room alive."

"Um… I'll keep that in mind." Mello fell silent when Watari entered the classroom. For once he had a smile on his face and seemed quite cheerful.

"I'm sure you all have questions about the midterm and how you think my grading was unfair, but that will have to wait until after class and we can see then if you still feel the same way. For now, I want to congratulate you – this has been an exceptional class. The median grade on the midterm was 82, much higher than the typical low-70s median that I've seen all the other years I've taught this class. The majority of you," his pause made Mello think of poor Matt's mark, "deserve a break. That's why I'm going to let you out of the class for the day."

A cheer made its way around the room. Watari waited patiently for them to finish. "Before I let you go, I want to quickly make an announcement. We have a new student who joined us only this year, but even as a young student he has managed to keep up and even surpass one of the smartest students in the school. I think you know who I'm talking about – Near, who has been slated new second-in-line to succeed L, and in the future could possibly be first!"

The rest of the class applauded Near loudly, and Mello sank down in his seat with embarrassment. Near hadn't gotten much higher of a mark than him, and this was one class, and yet he had somehow managed to look smarter to Watari. It was all he could do to ignore Near's excited chatter as they left the classroom to hunt down Matt. "That's one of the nicest things anybody has ever said to me! Do you really think he liked me that much? I know that a mark on one test isn't everything, but Watari somehow thinks I'm good enough to be in the running to be L already! Do you think he meant it, Mello? Do you think I could be better than you one day? That would be the happiest moment for me. Finally I would belong somewhere. But you're really good and I don't want to-"

"Near, please shut up. We're trying to find Matt's dorm room, not host a talk show."

"Excuse me for being excited." But Near appeared just as happy to trail quietly behind Mello down the hallway.

"Room 569. Here it is." Mello knocked, received no answer, and pushed the door open. The inside of the room was more or less a disaster: burger wrappers, cigarette butts, clothing, and various other items all competed for individual space on the floor. The wall was covered with posters, some of which were half falling off. Matt, who was sitting in a corner in front of a TV mashing the buttons of a controller, could easily have been missed. "Matt? Aren't you coming to class?"

"I'm not enrolled in that class anymore." He pounded ferociously at a button, groaned, and threw the controller aside.

"Because of your failed midterm?" Near asked.

"Yes. Well, no. Actually, it's a little more complicated than that. Did you knock?"

Near nodded and stuck his thumb in his mouth. "Yes, but you didn't answer. You probably couldn't hear over your game."

"I didn't have it turned up that loud. Hey, Near, have you ever tried a first person shooter? Some people say that they don't require a lot of skill, some people say they do, but either way, I bet you'll relieve some tension blowing the heads off of some goons."

"Excuse me, you two," Mello said, kicking a few shirts aside to make room to sit down, "Matt, why did you drop out of the class?"

"Drop out? That's a nice thought. I didn't drop out. I was kicked out. It's all for the better, I suppose. I'm much better suited to sitting around playing video games at lunch. I was a warm body pulling your group down, that's all."

"You're more than that, Matt," Mello said, but Matt didn't even look at him.

"I can talk to Watari if you want," Near offered. "He likes me, I think. Maybe he'll let you re-enroll if I tell him how dedicated you are."

Mello began to compulsively straighten some of the mess around his area. "I don't think so, Near, he already put you up as next in line behind me to be L. Sounds like he's pretty unforgiving."

"I can't anyway." Matt reached forward and turned off the TV. "I haven't been kicked out of the class. I've been kicked out of the entire school."

"No way! They can't _do _that!" Mello stood up and dropped the jeans he'd been folding. "You're an _orphan_! There's nowhere for you to go! They can't just kick you out onto the streets like that! It's unethical! It's complete nonsense! It has to be illegal!"

"Save your breath and your social justice, princess. Don't worry, I already checked the website, the school manual, everything. Honestly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. I've been coasting along for years on almost-zeroes. C&C was supposed to be my last chance, and then they'd fail me out of Wammy's. I didn't make the cut." He tossed a book aside, which was silver, hard-covered, and embossed with the words 'Wammy's House Student Guidebook.' Near picked it up and began to leaf through it.

Mello felt like his world was crashing down around him, though he would never know why he felt that way. After all, he'd only known Matt for a couple of weeks. "But… why didn't you tell us?"

Matt threw his arms in the air and leaned back in the beanbag chair set up in his corner. "What would be the point? So I could struggle through another year hiding my marks, embarrassed to be around my much smarter friends, only to be told again I have one more chance? However much real-world smartness I have, if I'm not earning the grades to prove it, I don't have it as far as management is concerned. Trust me, it's better for everyone that I'm left to my own devices to do what I do best – blowing the heads off of zombies."

"I don't want you to go."

Near looked away from the book he was staring at, and even Matt looked somewhat surprised. "Really? I didn't think you cared one way whether I was around. If I go you'll have the peace and quiet in your dorm you need to study. It could be my fault entirely that Near got a better midterm grade than you."

"I don't care. If you weren't around, I wouldn't _have _any friends. I like having friends. Genuine friends who care about me as more than a tool for them to use to solve their homework. I'll miss you."

Matt's lower lip quivered, and he put his lower face on a hand, both to give his neck a break and to cover his mouth. "Thank you, Mello. That's very… touching."

"Wait, Matt! The handbook says that Wammy's House will be in charge of all unsatisfactory students' affairs until they are able to find a new caretaker. That means you can stay here unless they find someone who will adopt you! So really, if you act like the world's biggest brat to any potential guardians you could stay here at least until you're eighteen."

Matt met Mello's eyes. The two stared at each other for a long time until Matt spoke. "I know, Near. I was getting to that. But I wanted to first figure out… if anybody would care."

"Of _course _we care, Matt, don't be silly," Near admonished. "It'll be okay. Maybe nobody will ever adopt you and we'll be able to stay here together forever."

"I want to say that's a nice thought, Near, but it isn't really. Hey, Matt, maybe nobody will like you and then you'll have nothing to do but play video games all day!"

"As if you really want to do anything besides that." Mello stood up. "I'd love to hang around but I have a class to get to. Are you coming, Near?"

Near glanced quickly back and forth between Matt and the doorway. "I thought I might stay here with Matt for a bit and try to cheer him up."

"Why don't you, too, Mello? It won't hurt to miss one class," Matt pleaded.

"What are we going to do?"

"Learn to play first person shooters, I guess," Near said, at the same time as Matt said "Probably play spin the bottle." The two of them shared an intensely awkward stare down.

"Uh, well, you two make up your minds about that. I've got a test to take."

Near snapped his fingers. "Drat, I forgot about the test. We'll be back after third period?" he asked, checking for Mello's confirmation.

"Sure, my 90s average isn't going to suffer if I miss one day of forensics. We'll be back, Matt. _Try _not to wreak havoc on the bits I cleaned while we're gone."

"I'll try," Matt said unconvincingly. "I can't promise anything. Not much to do besides eat food now. Oh, by the way, there are a couple of interviews with potential guardians later in the day that I have to attend."

"Don't try to guilt trip us, Matt. We don't want to wind up in the same sad situation as you."

"Thanks a lot, princess."

"Anytime."


	6. Punishment

**Author's Note: I think it's fair to warn that there is a short incident of violence near the end of this chapter.**

* * *

Many leisurely days were spent with Matt after he was expelled from Wammy's House. Somehow he seemed more happy and open then he ever had before. One evening the three of them were sitting on his floor amidst the clothes and garbage and he began to list off everything he could accomplish now that he wasn't a Wammy's student anymore.

"Eventually I'm going to meet someone to adopt me who I'll actually like and I'll go off with them. You two will be lonely but I'll send you letters from places around the world where we'll travel once a month. I won't be confined in a career as a detective that I don't want. I'm smart enough to do whatever I want. Maybe I'll design video games, or I'll join the mafia and be a sharpshooter, or I'll just inherit all of my guardian's money when he or she dies and do nothing but drive around cool cars all day. I'll have a huge birthday party once a year where I'll invite all my closest celebrity friends and you guys and we'll go on triple dates with playboy bunnies. How does that sound?"

"Sounds wonderful, Matt. We'll miss you though." Near was almost buried beneath a pile of laundry on Matt's bed. "Write us a lot, okay?"

"As much as I can. I'll miss you guys too. But let's not focus on mopey stuff like that. How's the C&C project coming along? You know I promised I'd help you with anything on it. I'm still happy to write up my section so you don't have to suffer for it."

Mello smiled. "It's actually going really well considering all the time we've wasted sitting in here. Near's finished his section. I keep telling him it's too short, but he won't listen to me."

"So you've solved the greatest case of our tender years, huh, Near?"

"I wouldn't say that. I did my best though. I found it to be a pretty simple assignment, actually. There was such an easy tactic, and if nobody's thought of it I'll be shocked. I'm working on your old section now, Matt."

"Near," Matt said, completely changing the subject, "it's getting late and we haven't gone down to get supper yet. Do you mind running down and picking up some takeout from the cafeteria?"

"Oh, sure," Near said, walking out of the room and absently playing with his hair.

"Adorable, isn't he? How do you stand it?" Matt asked Mello once the door had closed behind Near.

"I hate to be the one to tell you, but sometimes you really come across like a predator."

"I might as well get _something _accomplished while I'm waiting to get taken away by my rich benefactor, and if that's lots of sex," he cracked his knuckles, "so be it."

"Again, I hate to be the one to tell you, but I don't think you're Near's type."

"No?"

"No. There's some girl in our German class he's pining over. Anyway, speaking of predators, why did you send Near down to get food when you could have called to get it delivered?"

A mischievous smile split Matt's face. "Caught that, did you? Well, I might as well admit it. I did it because I hoped to have some time alone with you."

"With… with me?"

"Yes, with you, you idiot. I hang out with the two of you almost 24/7, and Near often comes by when you're busy studying, but I've never had the chance to spend some quality time with you."

Mello had to take a moment to collect himself so he wouldn't stumble over his words. "You're not going to get much of a chance now. Near won't take long to pick up food."

"I know. I wanted to see if we could arrange something. Maybe one day after you finish classes we can go swimming in the lake, or whatever…" his pitch reached upward at the end of the sentence as if to turn it into a question.

"I don't know," said Mello, hunting for an excuse, though he wasn't sure why he was doing this. "There's not a lot of time for me to hang out right now. The finals for Communication and Code are coming up and I'll need to use all my extra time for studying."

Matt wasn't buying the excuse, and that was written all over his face. "So you have time to hang out in a group, but not with me..?"

"It's not like that, Matt. As a matter of fact, and I might have forgotten if you hadn't reminded me, I was going to let you and Near know tonight that I don't have any free time starting today. I've only got a week to study. I should have started sooner."

"Near seems to think he'll do fine without the constant sticking of his head into books."

_Stop pushing me, Matt, _Mello thought. What he said was, instead, "He's a lot smarter than me, though, isn't he?"

"Mello, don't be like that-" Matt started, but Mello was already out the door. Near returned shortly afterward to find Matt sulking on the floor.

"Where did Mello go?"

"To study and be angry again. I guess some people never change, huh, Near? By the way, he says he's too busy to spend any time with us until after the C&C exam, so he's not going to be any fun. Now that he's out of the way, do you want to play some games?"

"Um, I guess." Matt and Near squished onto Matt's beanbag chair together and spent the rest of the night sniping enemy soldiers from afar.

"I think he's worried about the German test too. If you get a better mark than him he's going to lose it."

Near paused the game and smiled. "I don't think we have to worry about that. He's going to find he's best in the class again.

"Near, did you throw the test on purpose?" Matt asked with some exasperation. "You shouldn't let his bad attitude hold you back. You know I like Mello but sometimes he's a bit overbearing. Should I talk to him about the way he's been acting toward you?"

"No," Near replied, hugging his knees and looking out Matt's grubby window. "I want him to be happy."

"I never thought a game about killing people would be so much fun," Near concluded his summary of the evening that Mello hadn't asked for.

"Fantastic." Mello's current state of affairs mainly consisted of sitting with his face down on his desk and his arms surrounding his head. "You're never going to surpass me if you join him in playing video games all the time."

"That's alright; I don't need to surpass you. I think you'll make a good L someday. I just want to learn and have fun. Maybe one day I'll open up my own detective agency. What do you think?"

Mello thought that was suspicious. "You don't want to be L anymore? That's a surprise after all the time you spent babbling about it. I don't think you have much choice either way. You know how it is here… either you want to be L, or you want to be out on the streets."

"Matt's staying until he gets adopted, remember?"

"Yes, but he did want to be L, I think, deep down. He just didn't want to make the effort. I think there's a big difference here. Now that I think about it, there was a student a year or two ago who suddenly 'disappeared' from one of my math classes because he protested L's supposed human rights abuses."

"Mello! We're trying to have a class here, something you seem to keep forgetting!" As always, Ms. T. managed to catch him talking and not Near. "Sorry to interrupt you, but as I was saying, at the end of class I'll be returning your test marks and you'll get your grades from your verbal test next week. Any questions?"

Seeing as there were none, Ms. T. got on with the day's lessons, which appeared to focus on etiquette in German. Part of language classes were always dedicated to learning about the cultures of various countries in case a student ever needed to visit there while on a case. Mello loved these parts of class – the idea of being able to completely disappear into a different country, to live your life there without anybody being able to find you sounded like a dream. It was too bad he already knew English – he'd always wanted to move to America someday.

Before he knew it, the bell rang and Ms. T began hurriedly passing back tests. Mello was satisfied to see the big 98 on the top of his test, with a smiley face written next to it. Ms. T. then paused in front of Near. "I'm disappointed in you, Near. I know you can do much better than this."

"What did I get?" Near asked, and Mello saw that for some reason he appeared to be trying to hide a smile.

"74. Not demonstrating your usual talent, I'm afraid. Hopefully Mello hasn't been distracting you at all."

"Hey, I got a near perfect score!" Mello protested, waving his test in the air.

"I know you did," Ms. T said. She ruffled his hair affectionately and, forgetting about her lecture to Near, moved on.

"Why does she like you so much?" Near asked, a hint of envy present in his voice.

"Beats me. I thought she hated me for a good couple of years here. Turns out she doesn't like to show she's playing favourites. I think there's a word for the way she was acting but I can't remember what it is. And I know exactly what you're thinking, by the way – you've got an age limit, her husband, and the rest of the class to get through."

"She's married?"

"To one of the other teachers in the school, or so she says. I wouldn't put it past her to make that up to keep some of the more obnoxious upper level students from hitting on her. Let's get going, we're late enough for our next classes as it is."

Near and Mello made their way down the hall to the place where they would split off and head to their separate fourth period classes. Right as they were about to separate, the school headmaster appeared from around a corner. "Ah! The infamous pair, just who I was looking for."

"Mr. Ruvie?" Mello asked, doing his best to keep any hint of nervousness out of his voice. Nobody knew why Roger Ruvie decided to become headmaster of a school, seeing as he didn't like children at all. Mello, as one of the best and brightest in the school, had never had to deal with him but had heard negative stories from several of his classmates. "Can I help you?"

Roger closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I wonder if you could answer that question yourself, Mello. I hope you weren't under the impression that I only wanted to have a friendly chat with an arrogant child such as you."

"Um, sorry, sir. What did you need?"

"I _need _to get a new job. I _want _to speak with Near about an issue he's having in his language class. Tell me, Near, why is it that after getting high 90s on every quiz, you dropped 20 percentage points on your last test?"

"Well," Near managed to choke out, "I suppose I could be spending more time studying, like Mello does."

"Like _Mello _does. Of course," Roger snorted. "Although, you know, I heard a different story from your German teacher. She says she believes it is possible," here he leaned down and stared right into Mello's face, "that you were bullied by another student into getting a lower mark on purpose. What do you think about that, Near?"

Near thought he was terrified, but figured that wasn't the right thing to say. "I think… that I'm grateful for Ms. T.'s concern, but nothing of the sort is going on. I guess my studying fell by the wayside, that's all. It's no big deal. I'm sure Mello will be a great L."

"Oh, is that so?" Roger spun and put a hand gently on Near's head. "I'm glad to hear you think your friend is such a good fit, however…" a smile that could be better described as a grimace adorned his face. Without warning, he gripped a good chunk of Near's hair and used it to throw him bodily against the wall. "Next time you want to skip studying, remember the purpose of this school and why you were brought here, and how much we've given you." His snarling done, Roger retreated down the hall he'd come from.

"Near? Are you… okay?"

Near was shaking, but attempted to put on a brave face. "I can't believe Ms. T. would say something like that about you."

"Don't worry about that, I understand her getting that impression. Roger could have made it up either way. You need to get to the nurse's office."

"I… why is Roger the head of an orphanage if he doesn't like children?"

"Nobody really knows. But you need-"

Near struggled to his feet and shook his head. "No. I might as well get used to it. This is only the second time it's happened. But… can we maybe go hang out with Matt instead of going to class? I'd like to rest a little. My head…"

"Shh. Yes. I'll get notes from one of my classmates in forensics. Let's go."

Near's head bled a little and stung where Roger had thrown him, and he had to lean on Mello to make it all the way to the dorms, but he was only focused on one thing: what in the world was he going to do?


	7. Encounter

Several days passed without incident. Near's low test score was never mentioned again in their little group – Mello was satisfied, and that was what both he and Near had been aiming for. So in the last few days before marks for the Communication & Code detective case study project – which would make up a significant portion of final grades – the class was pleasantly surprised to hear something interesting would be happening.

"As you know, class," Watari began, "your marks will be returned in a few days, right after the final exam. I bet a number of you are feeling stressed, so I hope you will be happy to hear that I've planned a class today that's a little… unorthodox. We have a special guest, a world-famous detective, coming in today. Each of you will have a ten minute one-on-one period with him to ask questions about the career."

A student at the back of the class raised her hand. "Which detective is he?"

"He prefers to have his identity remain secret. Most detectives do nowadays, seeing as information is so easily spread over the internet. He doesn't want a name associated with his face. Anybody else?"

Near and Mello's eyes met. Both of them had an idea of who this famous detective might be but neither of them wanted to say for fear of looking foolish. Watari surveyed the class, satisfied that there were no more questions. "I'd like to proceed now. Near, I invite you to be the first to speak with him. He's waiting in the room next door. I'm sure that you, as a new yet extremely successful student, have plenty of questions. I'll send the next student out when your time is up. As usual, anybody who runs late for their third period class will be excused. Near, come with me."

Near and Mello shared a shrug, and Near followed Watari out of the room.

Near was feeling rather shy, alone in the room with this alleged great detective. The detective himself appeared unperturbed. His black hair was styled wildly on his head and if he hadn't been wearing jeans Near would have guessed he hadn't bothered changing out of his pajamas.

"I was told the students would have plenty of questions," the man finally said with a flat tone.

"I'm sorry, mister..?"

"You may call me Ryuzaki. What would you like to know about being a detective?"

"Ryuzaki, I wasn't prepared for today… I don't have any questions in mind. I'm sorry to waste your time. I wish we'd had some warning…"

"It's not a problem. I'm happy to take time to meet one of my potential successors."

Near blushed. "You know who I am."

"Yes. If I'm going to be honest… Watari invited me here specifically to talk to you and another student. He told me you're one of the best students in the school, but he's worried you're holding back. Apparently some of your recent test marks, both in his class and others, have been far below your usual. Tell me, why would you deliberately waste your potential?"

"I-I'm not doing it on purpose. I wish everyone would stop accusing me of that." More heat was spreading across the fine features on Near's face. He never was a good liar.

To his astonishment, Ryuzaki smiled. "Actually, it's quite obvious what you're doing. I have a couple of theories why, ranging from self-esteem issues to full-blown conspiracies, and I know which are likely and which aren't, but maybe it would be better for you if you told me yourself. Perhaps you don't even know right now."

"No, I know exactly why. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but… I have a friend. His name is Mello. He's been working hard to be top of his class as long as he's been here, and I came along and kind of messed everything up for him. He wants to be the next L, and right now it looks like I'm going to overtake him. I don't want that to happen."

"Don't you want to be L?"

"Well, yes, but I don't think I want it anywhere near as badly as he does. It's like it's the only thing he cares about. Would you destroy the only thing one of your closest friends cares about?"

Ryuzaki bit his thumb and looked thoughtful. "I have to say… well, this isn't about me. This is about you. Was your friend not aware that it was going to be an intense competition when he came here?"

"I think he knew it on one hand, but it didn't end up being that way until I arrived."

Ryuzaki bent down so he was on the same level as Near. "I don't like to see such a smart student throw away his opportunity because his friend can't handle reality. The current L isn't going to be around forever, and I have a feeling we may need a successor sooner rather than later."

"What do you mean?" Near asked, shrinking away from Ryuzaki. There was something about him that was really unsettling.

"Just that we need the best of the best and we can't measure that if the best aren't trying. Here's what I want you to do about it: I want you to not discuss this with your friend, but continue to take classes and _do your best_."

"But he'll be angry," Near said mournfully.

"Then explain to him exactly what I told you. I know you want to be L. Your teachers have made that clear enough. If your friend is still upset with you, chances are he was never really your friend in the first place." Ryuzaki straightened up and smiled. "Now, are you sure you don't have any questions for me?"

"I'm sure. I think our time is almost up anyway. Thanks a lot, though. I think I needed that talk."

When Near's time was up, Mello was sent to be the next student to speak with Ryuzaki. In his hands was a long list of questions he'd composed while waiting for the ten minutes to pass, and he eagerly pushed open the classroom door to find that Near was hugging Ryuzaki, who looked slightly surprised. "Thank you so much," Near was in the middle of saying. "I learned a lot. I hope someday when I'm a detective we can work together."

L pushed Near away gently. "That's a nice idea, but I don't think that will be possible. Goodbye, and don't forget what I told you." Near skipped out the door and L looked at the blonde boy who had entered the room. "You must be Mello."

"How did you know?"

"You don't seem very happy."

"Oh… I, uh," Mello stumbled over his words, not quite sure how to reply to such a bold accusation. "Well, anyway, I have a couple of questions so I thought we could get started on those. First of all, I was wondering how you find your cases?"

Ryuzaki stuck a finger in his mouth for the second time. "Hmm. An interesting question with an interesting answer. I'll talk to you about that in a minute. First I have a question for _you_: why do you want to be L so badly?"

Thoroughly taken aback by the question, Mello had to try hard again to get his words out. "Well… you see… it's just that… doesn't everybody here want to be L?"

"Of course. And yet nobody else risks their friendships over it. Why do you want to be L so badly you're willing to hurt a friend's life opportunities over it? If Near gets low grades, it won't only hurt his chances to be the next L, it will also hurt his chances to get any good detective job. Is it really worth it?"

Mello crossed his arms and backed away, conscious that he was nearing the door. "Look, I don't know who you are or what Near told you, but-"

"I am L."

"_WHAT_?"

Mello and L stood facing each other, L with an earnest expression and Mello with a frightened one. "It's true. I am hear under the guise of a man name Ryuzaki but really I am L. Of course I would prefer that you did not share this with your classmates."

"So I suppose you're not actually here to answer questions for my class?"

"No. I'm here to evaluate the potential candidates to be my successor, chosen from the students of this intensive class, and I'm here to give general advice. For example, I told your friend Near that if you continue to be angry about his good grades that you're not being a very good friend. What do you think of that?"

"What do I think…?" Mello still half wanted to bolt out the door and never see this man again. "I think you don't know anything about my life or my situation or what I've been through to get so far."

L laughed, which only served to further infuriate Mello. "Do you honestly think I don't know what has to be sacrificed if one wants to become L? Keep in mind that I am him."

"Yes, but…"

"I know exactly what you've had to do and exactly how difficult it is. But this school wasn't created so you could all get a top quality education with free living and free food and have a happy, sheltered life; it was created so you could all be groomed to have the potential to be the world's greatest detective. The fact remains that only one person can make it, but nearly everybody in this school has made the same sacrifices as you. You don't know anything about Near's life, do you? What about your friend Matt who had so much promise and yet couldn't make the effort to pass the easiest of classes? He could have done it, you know. If he cared, he could have surpassed you. And with your attitude, you'd have no friends left at all."

Mello stared sullenly at the floor. "He could do anything he wants. I bet he's one of the smartest people in the whole world. There are so many more options out there for him. For me? Not so much. I'm L or I'm… nothing."

"That's not true. You're very smart and good at what you do. Near just happens to be better. You have all sorts of options."

"Yeah, my skills give me all sorts of pathways. My mindset, however… there's nothing else in the world that I care about."

L put a hand on Mello's shoulder, which he shrugged off. "Look, Mello… you have to understand that the whole world isn't revolving around you, and you're not revolving around me. I suggest you continue to do what you're doing. Study lots, get good grades and get a lot accomplished. Why don't you and Near work together sometimes?"

"What, so he can upstage me? I don't think so. We work on our homework together at night for the classes we have together and that's _it_. Otherwise we're just normal friends. I can't work with him and risk making myself seem foolish."

"Well, in that case," L said with a prolonged shrug, "you should focus on your studies."

"That's all you have to say? Aren't you going to answer any of my questions?"

"I'm not going to take questions from someone who doesn't want to hear the answers."

Mello finally had enough and began to stomp toward the door. "Thanks a lot for your help, great _detective_. I'm sure the other students are waiting to be lectured, so I won't keep you."

"Mello." The voice was soft but commanding.

"_What_?" he snapped in return.

"Please don't hurt your friend. He needs you more than you think."

"Anything else?" Mello was standing in the doorway with one foot outside, ready to flounce away as needed.

"Yes. Please tell your friend Matt, when you see him after class, that I'd like to speak with him."

Mello left the room without giving a sign he'd heard.

Matt was the last of the three to meet L. He shouldn't have known who the tall, hunched man with the dark circles under his eyes was, but Mello didn't bother to lie about it to Matt.

"Good evening, Matt. How are you?"

"F-fine." Matt wasn't sure why, but the presence of L intimidated him. "You know, I've been expelled from the school, I'm not sure why you want to talk to me."

"I was about to explain. You know Mello?"

"_Yes_, I know Mello," Matt said, his voice more tense than he intended. "He's my best friend. What does he have to do with anything?"

"I know you care about him, and he cares about you a lot too." Matt half-laughed, half-coughed here. "He does. He won't admit it, but it's true. We're not going to have a long talk here. All I wanted to say is that I'm sorry to hear you didn't make it through the coursework, I know you're talented and capable, but it's too late for that. I also want to tell you that your friends are going to be under a lot of stress soon."

"What? How do you know? What's going on?"

The corners of L's lips curved upward. "Ordinary silly schoolboy jealousy. Except in Mello's case it's a lot more serious than that. I don't know for sure, but I can guess your group of friends is going to undergo some serious strain in the coming weeks. I want you to make sure that Mello gets through it okay. That's all. Have a nice day. I hope whoever eventually adopts you cares about you as much as your friends here do."

"About that…" Matt began, but L shook his head.

"I have nothing to do with that, and I can't help you either. I don't expect we'll see each other again, but I hope it goes well. Goodbye, Matt. Remember to take care of Mello."


	8. Departure

"So, exciting day for you two tomorrow, huh?" Matt paused his game for a second to converse with Mello and Near.

They nodded their heads simultaneously. The next day would be an important field test in Communication and Code. Before any other test, Near might have been worrying, but he was too excited about going into the city. "It's been so long since I've been outside school grounds. Even longer for you two. This is going to be really cool!" The entire time he said this, Near was fiddling with the hair on the side of his head. The amount of time he'd spent playing with the hair on the sore side of his head had pretty much made this habit for him.

"I wanna see the Winchester cathedral," Mello said, unable to keep up being mad at Near for the moment. "I can't believe C&C is almost over. I hope Watari teaches more classes in the future. I feel like I learned so much more than just code translation, you know? I'll pick you upa souvenir, Matt."

"No thanks," Matt said, suddenly sour.

"Something wrong?" Near asked, sensing a change in the mood of the room.

"No. Sorry. I'm fine. Didn't sleep well last night," Matt muttered, although he didn't look particularly tired. "Don't mean to rain on your parade."

"Hey, what's this?" Mello asked, picking up a stray piece of paper from Matt's floor.

"Don't touch that," Matt snapped and snatched the paper away from Mello. "It's nothing."

"Nothing again? Are you keeping secrets from us?"

"Don't worry. We'll talk about it later, okay?" Matt asked softly. Mello sensed the urgency in his tone and nodded. They would wait for Near to find something else to do. Clearly this was going to be a serious talk.

"Okay, Mello, we need to make an action plan," Near said, reminding Mello why they were gathered in the first place. Apparently it wasn't to watch Matt shoot the heads off of rebel squadrons. "Watari said we'd be solving a crime using the knowledge we gained in class."

"This again?" Mello complained dramatically, even though he'd been in class to hear the announcement just like Near had. "Are the police services all over the world over their yearly budgets or what?"

"We don't know that it'll be an actual crime."

"Maybe not, but I certainly got the impression that project we did for class was. I don't see why this would be any different. Watari seems to want to prepare us for our future careers."

"Well, that's good, isn't it? Anyway, let's work this out. I doubt we'll have to solve a murder or anything too dangerous. I'd guess a minor robbery, credit card fraud, something of that sort. Of course, if we're going to use code, maybe it's a rogue spy or hacker, so let's go over the codes we learned in class. What if we divide them in half and make sure we have basic knowledge of all of them?"

"Sounds good. I also think we ought to go over tracking techniques and methods of going undetected. I don't know what else would be helpful in this situation. Sound good?" Near nodded his affirmation, and the two of them divided up their notes and dove right in. Matt watched over them with a half-smile and sad eyes.

_Remember to take care of Mello_, L had said. He wanted to do his best to listen to L and help his friend, but Mello had become so much more closed off since that day. It was as if he'd withdrawn back into his shell, and he spent a lot more time studying, almost as much as he had before him and Matt met. Besides that, Matt had his own problems to worry about now. _I guess Mello and I will have to help each other_. He went back to upgrading his guns for the next couple of hours. The trio headed down to have supper together as usual, though Mello brought along at least three textbooks, and returned to Matt's room for a few more hours of studying – Near and Mello on the floor and Matt on his bed playing his Gameboy. Finally, as the last rays of the summer sun disappeared from Matt's window, Near yawned.

"We're good, Mello, I think. There's not much more for us to study. We should rest up since we're heading out early tomorrow. Mello?"

"Why don't you go back to our room, Near? I'll be with you in a bit. I need to go over interrogation techniques once first, in case we need them. I haven't take that class yet."

"Okay, see ya. 'Night, Matt." Near closed the door behind him. Matt and Mello listened to his feet pad down the hallway, and it took a while for either of them to speak.

"So, Matt, the piece of paper?"

"We'll talk about that in a minute. I have something I need to ask you first. Why don't you come up and join me?"

Mello shrugged and sat beside Matt on the bed. "What's up?"

Matt seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. He started a few times, choking out words like "I" and "do" and then stopping altogether. "I don't know how to ask you this."

"Go ahead. Ask me anything. I promise not to judge you or whatever."

"I know you won't, or at least you'll try not to, but this is a bit awkward. Okay, here goes." But he didn't ask anything. Instead, he breathed heavily and looked a little green.

"Matt? Are you okay? Are you sick or something? I can call for the nurse if you want."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT."

"Okay, okay, so what's going on?" Mello's eyebrows scrunched together and he put a hand on Matt's shoulder, making Matt's question all the more difficult when he saw Mello's concern.

"I guess I might as well get this over with. Okay. So, we've known each other for a while, right? And I know you care about me. And I really like you. So I was wondering… if you maybe… would be my boyfriend or something?"

Following this question, Matt leaned over the floor and made a series of weird noises. Mello was fairly certain he'd thrown up at least a little bit but was having trouble concentrating on that right at the moment. "Wait, what?"

"You heard me and if you make me repeat that I'll probably actually die."

A heavy silence filled the room and Mello thought he could feel tension building in Matt's shoulder until Mello finally pulled away. "I'm sorry, no."

"What? Really?" Matt looked so heartbroken Mello almost regretted saying no. _Almost_.

"I can't…" Mello said, aware he sounded weak and unsure. "Matt, I'm not… gay," his intonation rose at the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question, or like he needed confirmation.

"Are you sure?" Matt asked pointedly. "Actions speak louder than words, princess. How many girls have you asked you out, or offered to run their fingers through your flowing hair, or asked you to stay the night in their dorms just in the few short weeks you've known me? And how many have you refused?"

"That doesn't mean anything; I was doing homework or hanging out with you and Near. I have priorities."

"I know that doesn't mean anything on its own, but coupled with the way I saw you staring at a couple of guys in C&C? The way you react when I do something like… this?" he moved his face toward Mello, who turned bright red and sprang off the bed.

"_Don't touch me_."

"I'll be sure not to do that again in the future. Be honest with yourself, princess, why can't you admit it to yourself?"

Mello gripped at the rosary on his neck and tried to get out words. He was saved the necessity of doing so by Matt standing up and ripping the rosary off his neck.

"Cheap plastic, I bet this is from a dollar store. Adds up, doesn't it? You're hiding behind a religion that I _know _you don't believe in. So what's the problem?"

"There is no problem. I'm not gay. You don't need to make a big deal out of it just 'cause I'm not into you."

That was it for Matt. He stood up, retrieved the piece of paper Mello tried to read earlier, and shoved it into his hands. _Remember to take care of Mello_. "You wanted to read this so badly? Go ahead. I'm sure it'll make you happy."

Mello cautiously unfolded the piece of paper and skimmed it. Then he returned his gaze to Matt, having trouble now hiding his pain. "You're being adopted?"

"Yep, and if you noticed I'm being picked up tomorrow while you and Near have a great time exploring the city. I'm being taken to America. I guess that means I should get packing. You'd better go." _Remember to take care of Mello_. "I was going to tell you and arrange it so we could contact one another, but I can see that won't be necessary. You better go."

Mello's features carefully arranged into a neutral expression, and he started walking away. When he reached the doorway, he looked back. "You know, I've always wanted to visit America. Maybe sometime I'll see you when I'm on a case."

"I hope not. Go."

Mello shut the door behind him and walked down the hall in a very similar manner to the way Near had earlier. Matt lay on his stomach on his bed, trying to convince himself to sleep or pack or do _something_. Instead, L's voice rang in his head. _I want you to make sure that Mello gets through it okay. Remember to take care of Mello_.

Finally he pulled the blankets up to fully cover himself. "_GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_" he shrieked.

Mello tried not to make noise when he entered his dorm, but Near still stirred and opened his eyes. "What's up? Did you finish all your studying?"

Mello closed his eyes and tried to summon an expression that would read as 'I'm so exhausted from all the work I've been doing' rather than 'one of my best friends is moving to a different continent and is also in unrequited love with me so likely hates me and will never want to see me again what do I do.' "Yes, it's all fresh in my mind. There's no doubt we'll be the best team out there tomorrow."

"Of course we will, with you on our team," Near said rather generously. "I was thinking that we should pick up something for Matt even though he said he didn't want anything. He's probably trying to be nice. What sort of thing do you suppose he likes?"

Mello laid down in his bed and shut off his bedside lamp. "You know, Near, I don't think that will be necessary."

"Why not?"

Mello had to decide now if he should break down and tell Near the entire conversation he'd had with Matt in the hopes of finding possible therapy within his other friend and not feel quite so alone. He mulled this over for a moment and then opened his mouth and said, "I have the feeling Matt doesn't like being in debt, know what I mean?"

"I see. Well, I might still get him a box of chocolate. That won't be too expensive and I'm sure he'll like it. Maybe he'll even share some with you."

Mello didn't feel like arguing any longer and chose to fall silent. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, one of the deciding factors in his future. Who would come out on top? Would it be Mello or Near? As Mello drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help but think the whole experience would be much easier on him if he could leave for his mission with a farewell from his best friend in the world.


	9. Fallout

**Author's Note: Just realized that the symbols I've been using to indicate scene breaks haven't been showing up on FF, whoops :) If you've noticed any choppy scene changes, that would explain it.**

* * *

Frankly, Mello was out of breath, and he had been for the last hour. Sure, he was skinny, but that was just luck – he wasn't used to this much exercise at _all_. It was astounding to him that Near had been rushing all over town that day and hadn't broken the slightest sweat. They were on the move even when they were trying to figure out a plan of action, and only stopped when somebody bumped into Mello's shoulder roughly. When he looked up, it was another Communication and Code team consisting mostly of Matt's old friends. "Hey, watch it," Mello snapped, too busy concentrating on his own panting to deal with a group of people at least twice as obnoxious as his previous friend.

"Watch it yourself, princess," one of them called back over her shoulder.

Mello sped up somewhat to catch up to her. "_Don't call me that_. I've been saying that all summer. Now that your role model is moving away you can try to come up with your own sad jokes."

"You know," the girl said with a conversational tone, "I notice you never got mad at Matt for calling you that."

"Shut up and just stop it."

"I wonder why that is? You know, he had the biggest crush on you, it was so cute… he talked about you all the time."

"Shut _up_."

"He was worried about how you'd react when he told you, actually. He would go on and on about making sure it was the right time… so precious."

"_SHUT UP!_" Mello surprised himself by lashing out at the girl. She laughed when she sidestepped his slap, but when she spoke her voice was icy.

"The funny thing is, I bet he would have stayed had you at least been a little nicer to him about it. You're not the only person in the world who cared about him." She sped up to a pace Mello couldn't keep up with and rejoined her team.

Near was oblivious and not at all tired when he caught up to Mello again. "We're having a problem here… I looked through some of the notes we took from the crime scene and we have some conflicting information."

"Obviously, because someone who steals laptops and purses out of old women's houses _has _to be a master of chaos as well. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that the woman claimed her housekeeper was out getting lunch when the laptop went missing, but fingerprints match the given name of the housekeeper. Well… they match the housekeeper's original name before he changed it because of something to do with inheritance issues, but that's a story for another time. I looked it up," he said defensively when Mello gave him a quizzical glance.

"Except Near, this isn't a _problem_. You solved the case neatly in about five minutes. All we have to do is find the guy's address and pay him a visit."

"I know. I was just being modest."

"Asshole," Mello said, momentarily forgetting to be annoyed and ruffling Near's hair with some degree of affection. "Let's go."

* * *

In the end, the case hadn't been much. As it turned out, the lady's housekeeper was around 25 years old, and rich. He became a housekeeper in order to steal because he had nothing better to do than resort to a life of crime (his own words). Near had to drag Mello away from the house after they recovered the computer and purse and called the police because he was still listing off other things the housekeeper could do with his time. "So, problem solved, right Mello? Let's get back to class. I bet we'll be the first ones back."

After stopping in a few shops to pick up 'emergency supplies' like chocolate-covered almonds and comics, they headed back to Watari's classroom. "I'm not surprised to see you two back early," he said with a hint of pride, and held out his hands. "May I see your field reports?"

The papers Mello and Near retrieved from their bags were grubby and folded, but every inch was covered in Near's meticulously neat cursive or Mello's massive scrawl. Writing the reports appeared to have been more exciting for Near than the case itself. _I guess everybody needs a hobby_, Mello had thought with a smirk at the time. Watari collected their reports and sat at his desk with a nasty-looking red pen. "The two of you may talk or do whatever you please until the rest of the class returns. Once I have your reports marked you may leave. You've been excused from classes so you may do whatever you wish." He then fell silent and scribbled away at their reports.

"I'm nervous, Mello."

By now Mello remembered how annoyed he was at Near for always doing better than him and openly rolled his eyes. "The only thing you have to be nervous about is how disappointed you're going to be when I've done a better job than you." He'd worked really hard on his report, describing everything to the last detail and highlighting what an excellent job he'd done interviewing witnesses despite never taking the relevant classes, and how it was his idea to call the police to apprehend the suspect instead of intervening as children. He could only hope this was enough to get his reputation back on track with Watari.

Eventually the class filled up with students eager to had in their reports. Watari told them the same thing he told Mello and Near, except added that they were likely to get their reports back the next day in class because he didn't have enough time to mark them all by the end of the day. He still managed, however, to return five reports by the end of class including Near and Mello's.

The two reports were stapled together and the pair eagerly leafed through them. Bold red marks indicated errors in grammar or style and pointed out things they did wrong, though the two were only eager to read the page of comments at the back.

Near read his quietly. "Near, you demonstrate excellent intuition on the case for someone attending for as short a period as you have. I hope you continue to take more of my advanced courses as they are introduced and will be pleased to report your findings to L. Though some minor clue-hunting issues were noted, I am pleased to award you a 95 on your final field test."

Mello grabbed the paper away to read his own comment. His decision not to read it aloud turned out to be a good one, because he wouldn't have been able to control his voice. _Mello, I am glad to see you are working hard and do an excellent job following procedure and assisting your teammate. However, I believe you still have plenty to work on as you missed obvious details in the case. A good effort. I am pleased to award you a 79 on your final field test._

"I've never gotten less than an 80," he said plainly before he could think about it. The paper swam before his eyes, and before he could cry and demonstrate to the entire class how upset he was, he ran from the room. At first he headed to the pond, but remembered he had review in German class and turned back. He ended up arriving ten minutes late and so every seat was full except one: the seat next to Near, who was watching him and looking concerned.

"Don't you dare patronize me. If you say _one _thing about how I'm _sooooo _smart no matter what Watari says and there's plenty of time to improve, I am going to shove you out of that chair without a second thought."

"Okay." Near said.

Mello glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Really? You're not going to say anything? That's unlike you."

Near sighed and stared at his desk. "I would, normally, but… don't get mad, okay?"

"That is not a very good way to start telling me something."

"Sorry, it's… I talked to Watari after you left. Asked if he would raise your grade at all since you were such a help in the mission. I told him I couldn't have done it without you, and I don't think I could have wandered into Winchester on my own, but he said he didn't believe me. He told me I should have done the work independently because I would be more effective that way. I'm sorry."

In a rather impressively short reaction time, Mello slammed Near to the ground and stood over him. "_Why would you tell me that?_"

Near tried to move away but desks surrounded him on all sides. "I only wanted to help…"

Mello laid a hard slap across the side of Near's head where he knew it was still sore. "So you not only want to prove how incompetent I am, but you wanted to make it look like I have to send my friends to solve all my problems? That I can't even face an old man to discuss my mark? Do you understand how _bad _you made me seem?"

The next few moments were a blur. All Mello knew was he was on top of Near and hitting him, exhilarated about getting out all his pent-up frustration. Half the class was cheering and the other half was screaming. Before Mello knew it, someone pulled him forcibly off of Near and punched him square in the face.

Ms. T.

"_How dare you_," she hissed, holding him up by the back of his neck, which he wouldn't have thought possible for someone her size. "How dare you hurt that poor defenseless boy. I have _never _hit a student here before and I never want to again, but how dare you touch him. Don't you ever lay a hand on him again. Look at his size! Do you think he could defend himself?" A sudden change swept over her face, and Mello noticed her lips were trembling. "What happened to you, Mello?" And then she dropped him and then she was gone from the room.

* * *

Ms. T. never much liked the staff room. Sure, the couches were comfy, there were snacks in the fridge, and some of her favourite flowers were growing in pots on the windowsills, but it was almost always empty. The one person she could count on being there was her husband – he taught forensics but had nothing third period. He claimed to love the staff room so she could usually find him there in his free time during the day.

As soon as she walked in the room he appeared at her side, sensing something was off. "Tia, what's wrong? Why aren't you in your class?"

She melted into his arms. "Mello."

He rubbed her back and she could feel him nodding. "I know. He's been moody lately."

"I… I hit him today."

Her husband only froze for a moment before continuing to comfort her. "Are you going to be okay? I didn't think he was doing anything _that _bad."

"You haven't seen him with Near. I'm worried about the two of them together. And I'm worried about him. What's happening?"

"Word around the staff room is he's worried about losing the title of L. He was practically guaranteed it before Near showed up and now he's got some serious competition. I've got the impression, at least from the way he acts and what he says in my class, that he thinks he has no other options. He's been depending on this for so long. What's he going to do if it all goes wrong?"

"You know, Tia, his life isn't your responsibility. I know you're worried about him and I understand why, but I need _you _to understand your happiness comes first. Can you promise me that? If he goes off the edge… it wasn't your fault and you don't need to do anything about it."

Though the tears in her eyes threatened to fall, Ms. T. silently nodded up at her husband.

* * *

Mello returned to his room at the end of the day to find it empty of both Near and his belongings. He supposed it was only a matter of time before the two were separated. Right now he had to make plans. This would have been easier if he were able to contact Matt, or at least find information about exactly where he was living now, but that was nothing to worry about right now. With a map of the United States in hand, he spent the evening hours plotting out the next part of his life.


	10. Abandonment

Near and Mello never fought again in all their Wammy days, as it turned out. Near was assigned a new dorm with a boy from his Interview Techniques class, and the two made fast friends. In fact, without his dependence on Mello, Near managed to blossom and soon ended up with a following of friends and admirers who accompanied him to every meal. Still, there was something about Near that was never quite the same after the fight: he was nervous and distrustful. He wasn't really close to anybody at all on more than a superficial level, and his roommate often wondered if anything he said about his life was true.

There were also several girls who were after Near at this point. The most determined was a young blonde girl named Linda, who refused to go by code name much to the chagrin of her teachers. She was constantly trying to convince Near to play with her and her friends, and would refer to him as 'misunderstood.' His gentle, monotone "no thank you" did nothing to deter her.

Now that the two-week summer vacation was beginning, her efforts redoubled. One day at breakfast she approached Near's table and squished herself between a just-showered Near and his roommate, taking time to inhale the scent of his soap. "So, Near, your birthday's coming up soon, right?"

"Yes. August 24th."

"Are you having a party?"

"No. I don't like birthday parties. They're too loud and well… kind of pointless." Poor Near only wanted to eat his oatmeal in peace. Unfortunately, his friends seemed eager for him and Linda to get together, and made various heckling sounds when he said this.

Linda frowned. "That won't do. You need to have a birthday party, at least one! You've been here all summer and you haven't gone to _one _party. That's so _boring_. If you have a party… we can play spin the bottle." She added a wink for good measure.

The course of "ooooh" that came from around the table did nothing to sway Near. Instead he was gazing across the room at the table where Mello sat with Matt's old group of friends, laughing rowdily. In sharp contrast to Near, Mello had a girl draped across his lap and didn't seem to want to do anything about it.

"Jealous?"

Near jumped out of his skin and noticed Linda had her head resting on his shoulder. That one word was incredibly loaded with implication. "Jealous of...?"

She shook her head. "I can't tell. That girl's a little old for you. And everyone is pretty sure she's a little female for Mello, although his showdown with Matt makes it hard to tell. And don't be jealous about Mello, either, you've got new friends who are _much _nicer than him. Let's plan your party."

Near gave in and tore his gaze away from Mello, but not before Mello spotted him staring at whispered something to another person at the table, the same boy who had tripped Near on one of his first days at Wammy's. "Fine, if you insist, I can have a small gathering. But _no _spin the bottle."

* * *

"He looks so sad all by himself," Mello's new friend, Syvil, sniggered. Mello did his best to stay on his good side despite the fact that he was incredibly obnoxious. "Have you been keeping track of the number of times he looks over here?"

"Uh, yeah. What do you think they're talking about? Do you know who that girl he's talking to is?"

The girl in Mello's lap, who called herself Auburn (though Mello could never be sure whether that was her assigned name or she made it up herself) giggled. "Her name's Linda. She's a year younger than Near and totally hot for him. I can't understand why. He never _talks _to her or even glances her way unless she's practically drooling on him."

"Maybe she thinks he's playing hard to get. What do you think they're talking about."

"Well," Auburn said, "if you'll let me take your tray, I can walk by and find out." She didn't wait for a reply. Upon her return she appeared to be having trouble suppressing laughter. "Poor girl. She's trying to get him to plan a birthday party. Apparently he agreed but won't agree to play seven minutes in heaven. Still, they've got a fairly sizeable guest list. We ought to do something about it."

Syvil was nodding and it took Mello a few moments to realize she meant sabotage. "Really? The kid's birthday party? Don't we have better things to do than that?"

"Exactly," Syvil said, "we _do _have better things to do, and it just so happens we are doing them on August 24th. We should have our own party."

"Too obvious," Syvil argued. "We need to do something that will draw people away from a party entirely. We should organize a school prank."

"Great idea, except anybody who gets caught will get the bruising of their life. You've got a point, though. What about a movie night?"

"Christ, Auburn, they can watch a movie at the party if they want to. We need to think of something they hardly ever get to do. That way nobody will want to miss it."

"Guys," Mello said with a sort of exhausted finality, "though I don't agree this needs to be an episode of some high school drama show, I have an idea. Something everybody wants and hardly ever gets to do." His voice shook somewhat as he explained his idea, but he managed to pass it off as excitement. _Wouldn't want them thinking I feel sorry for Near_.

* * *

The day of his birthday, Near actually began to get a little excited. He pretended he wasn't interested, but it was nice to think he still had friends after his falling out with Mello, whom he'd assumed would vengefully try to make sure nobody ever spoke to him again. _I guess I judged you wrong. Maybe someday we'll be friends again_. Mello still ignored him in the hallways, but at least he wasn't throwing fists.

"Are you excited about the party?" Linda asked him, leaning her entire body against him during Interview Techniques to whisper, even though they were at the back of the room and hearing didn't seem to be their teacher's strong suit.

"Uh… yeah, I am, I think. It'll be fun. Who's showing up again?"

"I've got a guest list right here. I invited most of the grade and everyone from our group of friends. Tonight's going to be wild. I wish you would agree to seven minutes in heaven, though…"

Near shook his head. "No way am I about to get myself in a situation where I'm trapped with a strange girl in a closet. It's not for me. You guys can play it if you want, I guess, but I won't be joining in."

"Aww, please?"

"No!" He said this firmly, but they were both laughing. When the bell rang and the class started shuffling out of the doorway, Near was in a good mood for the first time in about a week. He spotted one of their friends and waved. "Hey, are you coming to my birthday party tonight?"

Oddly, the boy stopped moving and began shifting his eyes around. "Er.. is that tonight?"

"Yep, we're starting at seven, and it's a Friday so we can go as late as we want!"

"Um… I don't think I'm going to be able to make it, sorry."

Linda exploded. "_Why the hell not? _I called everyone on the guest list, including you, and you said you would be able to make it! You said you weren't doing anything all weekend!"

"It's just… something came up."

"_What something_?"

"Let it go, Linda," Near said without a hint of emotion. "He's not the only guest. Other people are going to be there. Right?"

"Yeah… right… anyway, gotta go, it was nice chatting!" The boy walked away at an unnaturally quick pace.

"What a jerk!" Linda yelled.

"It's not a big deal. He's busy. So what?"

The thought brightened Near and Linda for a moment, but as they asked more of their friends about the party more of them acted shifty and refused to come. Then they saw the source of the problem: Mello and his friend Auburn were drifting in and out of the crowd of their classmates, stopping each one to talk for a few minutes. Though Near tried to convince her otherwise, Linda marched straight up to the pair.

"Excuse me! What's going on here? Shouldn't you two have been where, y'know, _your _class is?"

"We've been given the day off to talk to people about a trip," Auburn said, a nasty smile dancing across her features. "We're just talking to your classmates about it now."

"A trip? What trip? Why haven't we been invited?"

"Maybe we thought you were too high and mighty to join us. Anyway, if you insist…" Auburn met Near's eyes while Mello avoided them, "we got permission from Roger to have a school trip for anybody interested. He said he'd be glad to have 'a bunch of stupid little brats' out of his hair for the weekend, so anybody can sign up and we're taking a bunch of buses to London for the weekend."

"Oooh!" Linda squealed with stars in her eyes. "When are you leaving!"

"Oh, five tonight," Auburn said with a casual air, though her eyes still gleamed.

"But Near's birthday party is tonight!" Linda blurted.

"Shame. It's too bad, it's the only weekend we could convince Roger to let us go. Our summer vacation is so short, you know. Don't worry, Near has a birthday every year. Anyway, I'm sure you have super good friends, and they'll be happy to stay home and celebrate with you, right?" Auburn tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched away, still smirking in an infuriating manner. "Come on, princess, we've got people to talk to."

"Still not my name," Mello said wearily. He looked at Near directly for the first time in a while, opened his mouth, seemed to think better of it, and trotted after Auburn.

"What an _asshole_! I can't believe he did that to you! He needs to get over you not wanting to be his friend anymore! I mean, jealous much? He _really _had to ruin your birthday party?" Linda was furious and apparently unable to see that Mello wasn't interested in being friends with him either.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe we should start planning our courses for next term instead, and see if we can get some classes together." Near hoped the offering of spending more time with him would appease her, but for once it did nothing.

"Hah! No, we'll have a party. We'll have a party if we have to sabotage Mello's trip to do it! I'm sure we can find something sharp lying around to slash a couple of tires with, right? We can't let them win!"

"Linda…" Near grabbed her arm, the only action which could distract her from her overzealous plans of revenge. "Stop. They'll be able to figure out who did it; do you really think we'll be allowed to have a party after that? Besides, if anything, it'll end up getting me expelled and that would make Mello's day more than anything. We've only asked about five people so far, and most of them weren't even good friends. You invited at least fifty kids, I'm sure a good number of them won't be interested in a trip Mello hasn't planned further than 'hey, we're going somewhere.' Don't do anything impulsive. Somebody will show up."

"Good point! Most people from our class _like_ you, of course, a lot more than they like Mello. Although," her smile turned sly, "He _is _kinda cute."

"What?" Near said blankly.

Linda blushed. "Oh, never mind. So, do you want to go plan our classes?"

* * *

Near watched out his window as the buses containing his classmates pulled away. Three buses. That would hold a lot of students. Still, it was two hours until his party started. To pass the time, he pulled out a fingerprint identifying kit some mysterious benefactor had sent him for a birthday kit and began messing around with it.

Seven o'clock came.

Not a single classmate came with it.

Near put down the kit. He felt numb more than anything. This was exactly what he'd expected – anybody who spent most of their life holed up – essentially trapped – in a boarding school would rather go on a trip to London than some lame birthday party for a kid they'd known for less than a month.

After about ten minutes, Linda poked her head in the door. "Sorry I'm late, I-" She noticed the lack of guests. "Oh. I'm sorry, Near."

"Just go."

She didn't have to be told twice. When he was sure she was out of earshot, he lay face-down on his pillow, thinking about how much fun he used to have hanging out with Mello. How cheerful and entertaining he'd been before Near ruined it all for him. Today proved things were never going to be the same for them.

For the first time since his first day of school, Near cried.


	11. New Beginning

**Author's Note: Well, we've reached the end already. This went by a lot quicker than I thought it would! Hope you've enjoyed and right now I'm planning a Matsuda one-shot and a longer Soul Eater fic starring Crona if anybody's interested. Thank you all for reading and thank you for your lovely reviews! Feel free to drop me a line any time here or at .com!**

* * *

The bells could be heard loud and clear today. It wasn't a church, certainly not a wedding. These were the school bells at Wammy's House, and they seemed louder than usual. Somewhere in the building a child was screaming and crying; likely a result of discipline by one of the strict and cruel teachers. Everything was so loud.

_Must be a new student_, Near thought to himself, recalling his first day at the school, when he'd been beaten by one of the harsher teachers and spent most of the day huddling in a corner and crying. On that day, another boy around his age came to talk him out of crying and the two eventually made friends. He wondered if anyone would come to this boy's rescue.

Probably not. It was November, they were coming on to the end of the fall semester and people would be studying for their exams. Near himself had a tough exam for Intro to Biochemistry coming up and he didn't have time to seek out the crying child, so the crying continued all throughout the day.

His phone ringing distracted him. "Hey, Linda, how's it going?" She was the only one who ever called him. At the end of the summer she had moved out of Wammy's under mysterious circumstances and it was later found out she'd located her biological parents and went to live with them instead, training to be a doctor.

"I wish you could be here, Near," she'd gotten over him a long time ago, luckily, but they remained good friends. "Everyone at my new high school is so annoying. As if I care about their bad marks. Maybe they should study or something, right?"

Near laughed. "Try to remember they're not all certified geniuses like they are at Wammy's."

"I know, I know. Anyway, I thought I'd give you a shout and maybe we could arrange something over Christmas break. I know students don't normally get released over holidays because they're all orphans but maybe the school could make an exception."

"I'm sure Roger will be happy to be rid of me. Listen, I have to go, supper is being served soon, but I'll call you later, okay?"

"Super! See ya!"

Near made his way to the cafeteria. In truth, though he'd been warm toward Linda over the phone, most of the time he spent by himself. He'd lashed out at a lot of friends who didn't go to his birthday party. Most of them had been annoyed about it not to talk to him until he apologized for 'overreacting' (their words) and he was definitely not interested in apologizing. Now he ate lunch alone again, sometimes seeing his former friends crowded around Mello, and if anybody tried to talk to him he would give them cold, monosyllabic replies. Nobody even interested him anymore. He was truly alone in the world.

* * *

"Are you _really _going to do it, Mello?" Syvil goaded him. "I thought you wanted to be L. Why would you abandon your dream for this?"

"L is no longer a reality for me, remember? Not since that snot-nosed kid started hanging around. I'm going to pave my own legacy. I can't believe I didn't think of this before. After a _lot _of research, I've narrowed down the areas where Matt could have been taken, and I'm going to invite him to start doing detective work with me after I get there."

"Matt and Mello sitting in a tree," Auburn sang to herself.

"Shut up, Auburn. I'm sure Matt's got his own harem wherever he's run off to. Which, unsurprisingly, is either Hollywood or Los Angeles according to my research. Sounds like the sort of people who would want to adopt Matt."

"How are you going to figure out exactly where he is? Those are big cities with a lot of people who don't want to talk to a fourteen-year-old. This is impossible _and _ridiculous," Auburn snorted, "even for you. Who knows how long that could take? Particularly if your research is incorrect."

The contents of the letter in his pocket told Mello it wouldn't be wise to reveal he knew _exactly _where Matt was staying. Later that night, he pulled out the letter, the contents of which he found hard to believe.

_Dear Mello,_

_ I'm glad you wrote to me. I shouldn't be surprised you managed to find out where I'm staying. I like it here in LA, but it gets lonely sometimes. I don't think my classmates appreciate me the same way my friends at Wammy's did. Anyway, no, I'm not mad, thank you for asking. I was hurt, I guess, but it would immature to continue being angry at you because you didn't return my feelings. I do like your idea of starting our own detective work, but Mello, I've gotten myself in a bit of a mess. It's hard to explain in writing, but it involves the mafia. Unbelievable, right? I'll give you more details when you come to visit. Thank you so much for writing. I'll see you soon._

There was no way he could reveal the contents of this letter to his friends. They'd want to come with him and help him, and he couldn't have that. The more people leaving Wammy's at a time, the more suspicious the teachers would get. If his friends thought he was just going on a failed mission they were the sort of 'friends' who would have no interest in failing alongside him. The situation with the mafia, however, was more intriguing than he'd ever expected, as long as Matt wasn't just trying to be funny. Now he pulled out another piece of paper which had been slipped under his doorway sometime earlier that day.

_Congratulations, successful graduates of the summer term Communication and Code class. I am looking for a smaller group of students from that pool to take on an advanced class in the winter term. If you are interested, please report to the former C&C classroom at ten tonight. Please do not invite any extra students this time around._

As he was unsure when he would leave for LA, Mello had already decided he might learn something useful for his trip. At 9:45 he left his dorm, avoided questions from the few people still left in the halls, and headed to the classroom. A few people he recognized were present, others seemed to have decided not to show up. The group of students who hadn't shown up included all the members of the class he could have called friends. _Typical_.

Near, the little genius himself, was of course present. He hung a short distance away from the group of students, not looking at ease. He jumped a mile when Watari opened the classroom door and it banged off the wall. "What's his problem?" one of the other students muttered.

"Good evening, students, I'm happy to see so many of you decided to show up this evening. I must confess, I expected far fewer numbers for a sudden meeting on a school night. Oh well, no matter, we'll have to go through a selection process. I will group you into pairs of two and whoever I deem more skilled on the activity I will provide you with in a moment will be the one who takes the class. Understand?"

Annoyed murmurs demonstrated the students' comprehension. "Good! I'm glad to hear you respect my idea. So, the first group to accompany me will be… let's see… Near and Mello."

Mello crossed his arms and glared at Watari. Without realizing what he was doing, he shouted, "WHY DO YOU HATE ME?" _Ugh, why did I say that? It sounds so childish_.

Watari appeared to seriously consider the question. "Hate you? I don't understand. Why do you think I hate you?"

"Well…" Mello became aware of his classmates staring, waiting for an answer. "I… you always force me into situations where it's impossible for me to succeed. You always gave him much better grades than me, how do you expect me to have the chance to stay in the class if I'm paired with him? It's not fair."

"Think about it this way. I always gave you much better grades than everyone else present. How do you expect them to have the chance to stay in the class if you're paired with any of them? Face it, Mello, if you wanted to succeed that badly, you would try anyway."

These poisonous words settled around Mello's brain, poking and prodding at his already fragile ego. "So that's it? You think I'm not trying?"

"I understand you're too arrogant to try. We don't need someone like that where this class is going. It's dangerous and a slight mistake can cause a lot of problems. I consider arrogance a huge mistake, one that won't be fixed in a few weeks. You can come and take another class when you've worked on that. I want you out of my sight."

"…What?" This was much softer than anything Mello said so far. Watari nodded and turned away.

Near tugged at Watari's sleeve. "Sir… I don't think I really need this class. If I won't enroll, does that mean you'll let Mello in?"

"_STOP PATRONIZING ME_!" No longer able to stand the confused stares of his classmates, the pitying stare of Near, and the disappointed stare of Watari, Mello fled the hallway. _He always has to put himself above me. No matter how much I hate him, he has to act like the better person. I could do anything to him and he'd just frown and say I made a mistake. Well, Near, I'm sick of it._

"Are you really, Mello?" He whipped around to see Ms. T standing behind him in the hallway.

"Was I saying all that out loud? I'm just frustrated…"

"I understand. I know I haven't taught you this semester at all, and we kind of ended the last semester on a bad note, but do you want to talk?"

"I guess," Mello said, though keeping up a carefully guarded expression. She led him to the staff room, empty this late at night, and they sat on one of the couches.

"What's going through your head, Mello? I can't pretend I one hundred percent understand your problem with Near, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. You were one of my favourite students."

Mello stared at his lap the entire time he spoke; he was sick of the pitying expression his peers and teachers always sent his way. "My whole life has been riding on the opportunity to succeed L. I've never wanted anything else since I was a kid and wanted to be an astronaut. I don't want anything else. It's so unfair that this kid comes out of nowhere and is taking my lifelong dream away from me. I don't even want to be here anymore."

Ms. T sighed and brushed a long strand of blonde hair out of her own face. Mello convinced himself to glance up and saw that she was looking at him with understanding rather than pity. "I know what you mean. I've been through something similar. Can you keep a big secret?" Mello nodded. "You can't tell _anybody_. I used to work for the CIA, you know. Not for very long. My name isn't really Ms. T, and even Tia which my husband calls me is a fake name. Nobody will ever know my real name, but I used to go by Halle Lidner. Anyway, not important. I was on my way up, heading to a top position, but this new guy came and was moving on up quickly. He used to cheat and lie to get promotions, too, so be grateful at least Near is being honest. One day I confronted him about it and we got into a bit of a… scuffle."

Mello laughed, imagining his teacher in a full-out fistfight. "So what happened?"

"The next day I came into work and was dismissed from my position for being 'dangerously volatile.' I was out of a job I loved and my lifelong dream was gone. I felt about as miserable as I'm sure you do. I spent a few months unemployed, searching desperately for an organization that would hire someone fired from the CIA, but it wasn't happening. Finally, I took the chance to apply here, and my proficiency in languages got me my new job and I love it more than anything in the world. I'm part of teaching the children that will grow up to make the world a safer place, and I never think back to my old work and miss it. In fact, if I ever mentioned to my husband I used to work for the CIA, I think he'd be pretty mad. He's not a fan."

"Not to be rude, but what does this have to do with me?"

"It means, Mello, that maybe you're meant for something greater."

Mello stood up and yawned. "Thanks for the talk. I'm not sure there's anything greater than being L, but thanks for trying I guess."

Ms. T. didn't get up to follow him. "I hope you'll stay, Mello. Either way, when you're off doing bigger and better things, I hope our paths cross again."

* * *

By the next morning, Mello felt better about himself. He'd spent all night replaying Ms. T's words, and when he drifted off to sleep, he was already thinking about new options. He'd even started composing a letter to Matt apologizing that his expedition to LA wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

The happiness was not to last.

During second period, Mello was summoned to Roger's office. When he reached the office, he found Near inside as well, and tensed up to prepare for whatever anger Roger was directing at them today. Instead, he found Near playing with a puzzle quietly and Roger looking sadly down at his desk. "Um, sir? What's going on."

Roger took a deep breath and looked up to meet Mello's eyes.

"L is dead."


End file.
